On June 16, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a 4-3 opinion in State ex rel One Person One Vote v LaRose, 2023-Ohio-1992. The majority said the state may hold an election in August 2023 for voters to decide whether to make it more difficult for constitutional initiatives to get on the ballot and to pass. There is no statute that authorizes the timing of such an election, but the majority said it is implicit in the state constitution.
Here is the decision.
On June 16, Oregon Republican Senators ended their boycott of the legislative session, so that bills can now advance in the Senate. This gives an opening to pass HB 2004, which would provide for ranked choice voting for statewide and U.S. House elections in both the primary and general elections. The bill had passed the House on May 23 by 35-24. It is now in the Senate Rules Committee.
The Los Angeles Times has this op-ed by Nancy Jacobson, founder of No Labels. It is titled, “Democrats and Republicans Met to Subvert a third party option. So much for caring about what voters want.”
Steven Greenhut, writing in the American Spectator, says in this article that the idea of California replacing top-two with top-five is “gaining traction”, although the article does not provide specifics. Thanks to Fairvote for the link.
On June 15, Ben Chavis, a national co-chair of No Labels, said No Labels will not run a presidential nominee in 2024 if general election polls show that President Biden is the Democratic nominee and that he is far ahead. See this story. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.
