On May 15, Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed SB 5112. It provides that people who obtain an enhanced drivers license or enhanced state ID will automatically become registered to vote. “Enhanced” means that the applicant provided proof of citizenship.
Individuals will be notified that they are not registered to vote, and give them an opportunity to decline being a registered voter. Thanks to Darryl Perry for this news.
The District of Columbia permits the initiative process. An initiative is about to start circulating that would provide for ranked choice voting in partisan primaries and general elections. It would also provide that independent voters are free to choose a partisan primary ballot.
Unlike initiatives for top-four and top-five, it would not eliminate the ability of parties to have nominees. Here is the text. Thanks to Fairvote for this news.
On May 18, the Maine Senate passed LD 769 on second reading. This makes it likely that it will soon pass on third reading. It simplifies the definition of a qualified party. Existing law says it is a group with 5,000 registered members if it is in its first four years of legal existence, but afterwards it must have 10,000 registered members. The bill simply says a party is a group with 5,000 registered members.
On May 4, the Iowa legislature passed HF 716, will requires all votes cast in presidential caucuses to be in-person. Caucuses are run by parties, not the government. Assuming Governor Kim Reynolds signs the bill, Iowa Democrats plan to ignore the law. The U.S. Supreme Court freedom of association cases make it clear that states cannot tell parties how to run their own caucuses.
Every vote in favor of the bill in both houses was cast by Republican legislators, and every vote against it was cast by Democrats.
According to this article, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan says New Hampshire might hold its presidential primary at the end of 2023, instead of in 2024, if necessary to make the state’s primary the first one. New Hampshire Secretaries of State can set the date themselves. Scanlan will treat Iowa as a primary state if the Democrats in Iowa do let non-attendees cast a mail ballot. So that means Scanlan would be determined to hold New Hampshire’s presidential primary before the Iowa caucuses.
No state government has ever held a presidential primary in the year before the presidential election. The earliest government-administered presidential primary ever held was New Hampshire 2008 primary, held on January 8.
