On March 17, the Alabama House Ethics & Campaign Finance Committee passed HB 541, which switches Alabama from an open primary state to a closed primary state. The bill is flawed because it would only let voters register into a qualified party. Courts in Colorado, Iowa, New Jersey, New York, and Oklahoma have ruled that if states let people register into political parties on their voter registration form, they must let voters register into unqualified parties.
Xavier Becerra, one of the Democrats running for Governor of California, has sent a letter to the University of Southern California and ABC 7, sponsors of the March 24 debate, urging reconsideration of their decision to exclude him and certain other Democrats. See this story.
Also see this op-ed from the Orange County Register about the debate criteria, written by Matt Klink.
On February 26, the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee defeated SB 2593. It would have eased the definition of a qualified party.
The lead letter to the editor in the March 17 Chicago Tribune criticizes the Illinois ballot access laws. See it here.
As previously reported, there will be a hearing in Gilbert v Weber on Monday, March 23, in Sacramento Superior Court. This is the lawsuit over whether the California Secretary of State has an obligation to vet the qualifications of candidates for California Governor. The state Constitution requires gubernatorial candidates to have lived in the California for the five years preceding filing candidacy papers.
A British newspaper, the Daily Mail, plans to cover the hearing. On March 16 it obtained permission from the court to have its reporter (who is physically in Florida) attend the court hearing via zoom. The entry granting permission appears on the docket sheet. Gilbert v Weber, 26WM000011. The plaintiff argues that Eric Swalwell, who is higher in the polls than any other Democrat in the gubernatorial race, does not meet the duration of residency qualifications.
