South Carolina Rep. Wallace Scarborough (R-Charleston) has introduced H3230, to ban fusion. It has a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 2:30 pm.
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On February 2, Maryland State Senators Paul Pinsky (D-Hyattsville) and Andy Harris (R-Cockeysville) introduced SB 545, which would permit two or more parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. For example, if this bill had been law in 2006, Kevin Zeese (a candidate for U.S. Senate) could have been listed on the November ballot three times: once as a Green, once as a Libertarian, and once as a Populist. A voter who wanted to vote for Zeese could have chosen any of those labels.
Kentucky Representatives Kathy Stein (D-Lexington) and Jim Wayne (D-Louisville) have introduced HB 55, to establish public funding for legislative candidates. The bill treats all candidates alike, regardless of a candidate’s partisan affiliation. Candidates for State Senate would qualify by receiving at least $10 from 275 residents of their district; candidates for State House would need such contributions from 100 residents of their district. Qualifying State Senate candidates would receive $54,000; State House candidates would receive $20,000.
On February 16, New Mexico HB 331 was defeated in the House Voters & Elections Committee. The bill would have eliminated the need for a qualified minor party to submit a separate petition for each of its convention nominees. New Mexico is the only state that requires one petition to qualify a new party, and then separate petitions for each of its nominees. The “double petitioning” requirement is currently being litigated in federal court.
On February 13, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee introduced HB 185. It provides, for the first time in Idaho history, that the voter registration form should ask voters to choose a party. Then, there would be separate primary ballots for each party. Parties would have the right to decide for themselves if independent voters could vote in their primaries.
The bill seems to be deficient, in that no provision is made for voters to register as members of unqualified parties. The 10th circuit and the 2nd circuit have ruled that the U.S. Constitution protects the right of a voter to join a party, even if it isn’t ballot-qualified. New Jersey state courts have agreed. Idaho is in the 9th circuit; the issue has never arisen in the 9th circuit.