The Missouri legislature has now adjourned. A last-minute attempt to revive the presidential primaries failed to pass, so in 2024, Missouri will be the most populous state in the nation to be without presidential primaries. Caucuses will be used. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
In Maine, parties that wish to qualify for party status need to persuade 5,000 voters to register as members of the party. Earlier this year, No Labels appeared to have finished its Maine registration drive, because its workers had submitted approximately 7,000 registration cards to election officials. However, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows believes that some voters did not realize they had registered into No Labels, and plans to write a letter to each party registration, asking them if they really intended to join the party. See this story.
In a surprise move, a Missouri bill to restore the presidential primaries might pass after all, even though previous such bills had been defeated. Senator Andrew Koenig inserted language for presidential primaries into an unrelated bill that had been in conference committee, and on May 4 the House passed it. See this story about SB 96. The date of the primaries might be April or March.
In a recent Fox News interview, Senator Joe Lieberman, a leader of No Labels, said if the party runs a presidential candidate, “It doesn’t have to be all people in elective office and it could be retired military leaders or business leaders or people from the world of entertainment.” See here.
A coalition of groups are about to circulate a petition to use ranked choice voting for all Oregon federal and state elections. Here is the text. Thanks to James Belcher for the link.
