Missouri House Passes Bill to Restore Presidential Primaries

On April 9, the Missouri House passed HB 2387/2480, which restores presidential primaries. Missouri had repealed its presidential primaries in 2022. Here is the bill text. The primaries would be on the first Tuesday in March. Candidates would get on the ballot by paying a filing fee to their party. The party would set the amount of the fee.

Assuming the bill passes the Senate and becomes law, it is likely the Libertarian Party will have its own Missouri presidential primary in 2028.

Alabama Bill Lowering the Cost of the Registered Voter List Passes Legislature

On April 9, the Alabama Senate unanimously passed HB 67. It lowers the cost of the registered voters list from approximately $37,000, to exactly $1,000. This is good news for future petition drives in Alabama. Groups and candidates face severe petition requirements in Alabama, but at least they will now be far more likely to be able to check the validity of their petitions before submitting them.

The Senate vote was unanimous.

Candidate Seeking Gubernatorial Nomination of Arizona Independent Party is Challenged

Hugh Lytle, a candidate for the gubernatorial nomination of the Arizona Independent Party, is facing a challenge to his primary ballot position because he showed his business address on his petition instead of his home address. See this story.

The challenge is somewhat similar to the New York challenge in 2024 to the ballot position of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., while he was running as an independent candidate for president.