Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed’s office has clarified the intent of his ballot access bills, HB 1534 and SB 5604. They would not require the nominees of unqualified parties, or independent candidates, to run in the primary. That is good news. Unfortunately, the petitions he is proposing require a separate petition for each statewide nominee of an unqualified party. In presidential election years, there can be as many as 8 statewide offices up in Washington state, and the bill would require 8 separate petitions for an unqualified party that wanted to run a full slate of statewide nominees, plus additional petitions for that party’s US House and legislative candidates.

Some of the major party presidential candidates have started making public appearances in Iowa. In particulary, Hillary Clinton just made her first public campaign appearance (as a presidential candidate) in that state. If you have an opportunity for a face-to-face conversation with a leading candidate for the presidential nomination of the major party, please ask that candidate to agree to at least one general election debate (should that candidate by nominated) with the top 4 or 5 general election presidential candidates, not just a two-person general election debate.

On January 29, a bill will be introduced in the Vermont legislature to use Instant-Runoff Voting for one or two particular statewide state offices. The bill may have as many as 50 co-sponsors, and the bill is backed by the Secretary of State.