Montana SB 290 (the National Popular Vote plan for presidential elections) passed the State Senate Administration Committee on February 5, by a vote of 9-2. The committee has 6 Democrats and 5 Republicans. Both “no” votes were cast by Republicans. It is significant that most of the Republicans on the Committee voted for the bill. Since the Committee has eleven members and the Senate has only 50 members, it is likely that the bill will now pass the Senate. The sponsor, Senator Rick Laible, is a Republican.

Oklahoma HB 1790 was amended on February 7 to move the presidential primary from February 5 to February 2. HB 1790 is authored by John Trebilcock (R-Broken Arrow) but the amendment was the idea of Trebor Worthen (R-Oklahoma City).

Moving the presidential primary by only three days sounds peculiar, but so many other states are expected to vote on February 5, that the Oklahoma legislators seem to feel Oklahoma would be ignored if it had its primary on the same day as so many other states, whereas it would get a great deal of attention if it were on a day with only one other presidential primary (South Carolina’s Republican primary will also be on Feb. 2). Thanks to The Green Papers for this news.

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Washington state’s appeal in the “top-two” case on February 23. The case is Washington State v Republican Party of Washington, 06-730. Both the U.S. District Court and the 9th circuit had ruled that “top-two” violates the associational rights of political parties, and that if Washington state wants to hold a “top-two” primary, it must leave party labels off the ballot.