On October 10, the North Caorlina legislature approved SB 747, an omnibus election bill. Among other changes, it amends the law concerning who can vote in partisan primaries. The old law said independents could vote in primaries if the party consented. The new law removes the procedure for a party to inform the state of its wishes about independent voters. Instead, it is now automatic for independents to choose a primary ballot if they wish, and there is no provision for a party to express its wishes about that.

The new law makes no concrete difference because in recent past elections, all parties with primaries have informed the state that they want independents to be able to vote in their primaries. Here is the text of the new law. See section 163-119.

The bill had been vetoed on August 24, 2023, but the legislature overrode the veto on October 10. The Governor’s veto message complained about other provisions in the bill; the Governor did not express any disapproval for the provision on who can vote in primaries. Thanks to Mike Drucker for this news.

On November 5, 2024, Nevada voters will vote on a top-five system. It already passed in November 2022, but in Nevada, constitutional initiatives must pass two elections in a row in order to take effect. The Las Vegas Rview-Journal has this editorial, dated October 29, opposing the initiative. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.

On October 30, Minnesota Congressmember Dean Phillips, who is running for president in the Democratic primaries, was interviewed by Michael Smerconish on CNN. He was asked whether he had thought about running as an independent. He said, “I say shame on anybody who might run as an independent candidate in this consequential race, the most important election in our country’s history, whether it’s Cornel West, whether it’s Robert Kennedy, whether it’s any other initiative that would have an alternate candidate that would peel votes from whomever would be taking on Donald Trump — shame on you. I would never do that.

“I’m doing this the way we have constructed our democracy.”

See this story. Perhaps Phillips has never read the Copenhagen Document of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, a document the United States, along with many other countries, signed in June 1990. We and the other nations pledged to “respect the right of individuals and groups to establish, in full freedom, their own political parties or other political organizations and provide such political parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law.”

Phillips’ conception of “our democracy” seems to be that two particular parties will be given a monopoly on political activity.