Nevada Republican Party Sues to Stop State from Conducting a Republican Presidential Primary in 2024

Posted on by June 1, 2023
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On May 26, the Nevada Republican Party filed a lawsuit in state court, asking that the Secretary of state be prevented from holding a 2024 presidential primary for the Republican Party. Nevada Republican Party v State of Nevada, 1st jud. dist., Carson City, 23-0000051-1B. The Nevada Republican Party would rather use a caucus. The presidential primary for qualified major parties was passed by the Nevada legislature in 2021.

In Arizona in 1996, a state court ruled that if the Democratic Party and the Libertarian Party didn’t want the state to hold presidential primaries for them, they had a Freedom of Association right to tell the state not to hold such presidential primaries. That case was Arizona State Democratic Committee v Hull, Maricopa County Superior Court cv96-909. That is the only precedent from any state on this issue.

Here is the Nevada Republican Complaint. Thanks to Derek Muller for the link.

Minnesota Legalizes Recreational Marijuana

Posted on by May 31, 2023
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On May 30, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed the bill legalizing recreational marijuana. Normally BAN would not post this type of news, but it is relevant to this website because Minnesota has recently had two ballot-qualified third parties that made this their number one issue. Minnesota becomes the 23rd state with legal recreational marijuana.

There is still a federal ban and the Legal Marijuana Now Party, which is still on the ballot, is keen to work on doing what it can against the federal ban, which obviously relates to congressional elections.

Oklahoma Legislature Adjourns Without Passing Many Election Law Bills

Posted on by May 30, 2023
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On May 26, the Oklahoma legislature adjourned. It did not pass any significant election law bills.

Bills that failed to pass were: (1) SB 518, which would have specified that initiative and referendum petitions must be signed by voters who use their “legal” name and which would have charged a filing fee of up to $750 before an initiative could start to circulateo; (2) SB 568, which would have repealed the straight-ticket device; (3) SB 288, which would have reduced the number of signatures needed on petitions in lieu of the filing fee.

Legal Marijuana Now Party May Change its Name in Minnesota

Posted on by May 30, 2023
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According to this story, the Legal Marijuana Now Party, the only ballot-qualified third party in Minnesota, may change its name. The budget bill passed earlier this month raised the vote test from 5% to 8%, but that change doesn’t take effect until after the November 2024 election, so the party is on the ballot for 2024.

Minnesota law explicitly lets qualified parties change their name. Many other states have allowed qualified parties to change their name, but in most states, there is no law on that subject, and election officials issue administrative rulings on that question when it arises.