Canada traditionally holds “premiership” debates between the leaders of four parties, prior to national parliamentary elections. One could consider these the Canadian equivalent of U.S. presidential debates. By tradition, any party that runs candidates for Parliament in a substantial number of Canadian districts, and which has at least one member of Parliament, is included in these debates. Recently, this has meant that the leaders of the Liberal, Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and New Democratic Parties debate.

The Canadian Green Party is pressing to be included in future debates. The Greens ran candidates in all Canadian districts in the last election, but have not yet elected anyone to Parliament. A poll announced on January 22 says that 77% of Canadians want the Greens included, 9% are opposed, and 14% have no opinion. The survey included 1,500 Canadians and was paid for by the Green Party. Note: this item has been amended to take account of information provided by a commenter.

Vermont Secretary of State Deb Markowitz is asking the Vermont legislature to pass a bill that would let Vermont use Instant-Runoff Voting for one or two particular state offices in the future. The legislature will decide which offices. Markowitz then plans to use a hand-count for whichever offices are chosen. She feels this is the only practical solution, since each Vermont town decides for itself which vote-counting technology to use.

On January 17, the Colorado Senate committee that handles election bills (the strangely-named State, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee) passed SB 46, which sets up the National Popular Vote plan compact for presidential elections. The bill has a vote set in the full Senate for the afternoon of January 22.

In Mississippi, the same bill was introduced on January 4 by eight Democratic State Senators. It is SB 2284. The lead sponsor is Senator Gloria Williamson, a former state chair of the Democratic Party. The Mississippi State Senate is tied, with 26 Republicans and 26 Democrats, but the Republican Lieutenant Governor breaks the tie and gives Republicans control. Senator Williamson herself said she doesn’t expect the bill to pass this year.