On January 17, Nebraska State Senator Kent Rogert introduced LD 539, on the subject of independent presidential petitions. The bill would eliminate the primary screen-out. Nebraska lets any registered voter sign for an independent candidate, except that independent presidential candidates cannot obtain signatures from people who voted in the primary. If the bill passes, there will be no Nebraska primary screen-out for any petitions. The bill also moves the petition deadline forward to August 1.

Minnesota State Senator John Marty, who has been a Senator for 20 years, has introduced SF 39. It would provide that all federal, state and local elections in Minnesota would use Instant-Runoff Voting, as soon as the Secretary of State had certified that the state is able to handle the project. SF 39 already has 4 co-sponsors. Marty is a Democrat from Roseville, a suburb of St. Paul.

On January 12, three organizations each filed an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres. This is the ballot access case involving how candidates for Delegate to a Judicial Nominating Convention get on the primary ballot of major parties. All three organizations sided with New York state. They are the Republican National Committee, the Mid-Manhatten Branch of the NAACP, and the Asian American Bar Association of New York. All three are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear New York state’s appeal.