The Florida legislature adjourned on May 12. HJR 129 failed to pass. It had passed the House but made no headway in the Senate. It would have required statewide initiatives to receive 66.67% of the popular vote.
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On May 12, the Missouri legislature adjourned, without passing bills that would have made it more difficult for statewide initiatives to get on the ballot or to pass. The bills that failed to pass include HJR 43, which would have raised the vote needed to pass a constitutional amendment from a majority, to either 57% or 60%.
Also SB 102 and SB 490, both of which would have required initiative circulators to be registered Missouri voters, failed to pass. SB 490 would also have banned paying circulators per-signature. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
On May 12, some Ohio voters filed a lawsuit in the State Supreme Court to stop the state from holding a vote on August 8, 2023, on a proposed constitutional amendment that would raise the support from a majority, to 60% of the vote. State ex rel One Person One Vote v LaRose, 2023-0630.
The lawsuit points out that the Ohio election code does not permit statewide ballot measures to be held in August elections. Although the Ohio legislature recently passed a resolution for the new constitutional language, it did not pass the companion bill to allow statewide ballot measures on an August ballot. Resolutions cannot change the statutes and need not be signed by the Governor. Here is the Complaint.
The legislative majority clearly wanted to hold the vote on whether to raise the vote to 60% in August, because it wants to stop an initiative that is being circulated now (concerning abortion) and which will probably qualify to be on the November 2023 ballot.
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.