On February 20, Colorado HB 1085, which removes many restrictions on who can circulate a petition, lost on the House floor by 28-36. The same bill had passed in 2006 but had been vetoed by the Governor.
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On February 22, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed SB 113, to have a presidential primary in February that is separate from the June primary for other office. Democrats on the committee voted “yes”, but Republicans (who are in a minority) voted “no”.
Alabama county elections officials were strictly instructed to tally all write-in votes in the November 2006 election. Almost all counties obeyed, but some of them now desire to get a bill introduced banning write-in votes. It would be far more intelligent for them to ask for a bill providing that declared write-in candidates file a declaration of write-in candidacy, shortly before the election. Then, their burden would be eased; they would only need to tally write-ins for actual write-in candidates. 35 other states already have such laws.
Arkansas HB 1509, which slightly expands the use of Instant-Runoff voting, passed the House unanimously on Feb. 21. Current law lets overseas military voters use Instant-Runoff ballots in primaries. HB 1509 expands this to all voters who are out of the country, civilians and military alike.
The pending lawsuit filed by Unity08 against the Federal Election Commission will move fairly quickly. All briefs will have been submitted by May 11, 2007. The issue is whether individuals can give Unity08 as much money as they wish, or are limited to what individuals can give to a national committee of a political party ($25,000), or whether they can only give $5,000. The FEC took the most restrictive position ($5,000).