On October 17, the Pennsylvania House State Government Committee passed two similar bills that let independents vote in primaries. HB 976 only applies to independent voters; HB 979 applies to independent voters and also registered members of parties that don’t have their own primaries.
Both bills were supported by all Democrats on the committee. All Republicans on the committee voted against the bills.
This news story says that former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a national co-chair of No Labels, says he doesn’t intend to register as a member of the No Labels Party, even though it is now a choice on the North Carolina voter registration form. Instead he is still a registered Republican.
The story quotes him as saying that No Labels doesn’t encourage people to register into the party. However, in California, No Labels is using the registration method to get on the ballot, and it probably will do so soon in Delaware as well.
The reporter who wrote the story makes a factual error. The story says that North Carolina won’t provide a primary in 2024 for No Labels because No Labels doesn’t want one. Actually North Carolina doesn’t provide a primary for any newly-qualifying party. New parties in North Carolina nominate by convention, no matter what their wishes are. Thanks to Richard Grayson for the link.
On October 16, a Connecticut state superior court issued an opinion in Alves v Giegler, Danbury, DBD-cv-23-6047566. This was a dispute over the actual nominees of the Independent Party for several city offices in Danbury’s municipal election of November 7, 2023. There were two nominating meetings held by individuals holding themselves out as officers of the Independent Party of Danbury. One meeting cross-nominated the Republican Party’s slate and the other cross-endorsed the Democratic Party’s slate. The judge ruled that neither slate should be on the ballot.
Here is the opinion, which is somewhat humorous. Thanks to Joshua Van Vranken for the link.
Poland held a parliamentary election on October 15. In the lower house, the Sejm, seventeen parties won at least one seat. Almost all parties that won a seat are in alliance with certain other parties. Here is the wikipedia article about the election.
One of the parties that won a few seats is the Confederation of the Polish Crown, which wants to restore the monarchy.
On October 17, a Marist/NPR Poll was released for the presidential general election, listing President Biden, former President Trump, and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. See it here. It shows Kennedy at 16%.
