On April 19, the Ohio Senate passed SJR 2 by a vote of 26-7. All Republicans voted “yes” and all Democrats voted “no.” It says that initiatives to amend the constitution need 60% to pass. It also says that the petition must contain a substantial number of signatures in all 88 counties. And it proposes to put this idea (assuming it passes the legislature) on the ballot in August 2024, at a time when the state has nothing else to vote on.

The clear intent is to change the rules before an initiative that is now circulating can qualify. That proposed initiative concerns abortion.

The House has had a similar bill, HJR 1, but even though it had a hearing on March 22, it has not advanced in the House.

Here is a story about the initiative.

New York still hasn’t decided when to hold presidential primaries in 2024. Josh Putnam has determined that the most likely date will be April 2. Read his analysis here.

In 2020, the New York presidential primaries were on June 23. They were unusually late that year because Governor Andrew Cuomo had cancelled them by executive order, but then a state court ruled he didn’t have the authority to do that, so they were held quite late. In 2016 they were held on April 19.

On April 19, No Labels filed a motion to dismiss in Maricopa County Superior Court, in the lawsuit Arizona Democratic Party v No Labels, cv2023-004832. This is the lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party to remove No Labels from the ballot. Also on April 19, the Secretary of State filed a lawsuit to dismiss. In this case, No Labels and the Secretary of State are on the same side. The Secretary of State had already determined that No Labels is a qualified party and is defending his decision in court. Here is the brief of No Labels.

The Democratic Party says the party does not belong on the ballot because its ten officers filed their declarations too early in the process. In Arizona, when a new party petitions for a place on the ballot, ten officers or persons who represent the party must file declarations. The purpose of the declarations is so that the Secretary of State knows who is in charge of the new party. The Democratic Party says that the declarations are not supposed to be filed until the petitioning is complete.