Hawaii Bill to Replace “Faithless” Presidential Electors Advances

On March 17, the Hawaii House Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs Committee passed SB 141. It provides that if a presidential elector doesn’t vote for the presidential candidate who carried the state’s popular vote in November, he or she is replaced.

On the same day, the same committee also passed SB 47, which changes the order of candidates’ names on ballots from alphabetical (by surname) to random.

California Bill to Make Public Funding of Campaigns Possible

California law includes a ban on public funding for campaigns, either by the state, or by any local government. The ban exists because of an initiative that the voters passed some years ago.

State Senator Tom Umberg (D-Villa Park) has introduced SB 24, which would make repeal of that prohibition possible. If the bill passes, the voters would be asked to vote on repealing the ban. In California, when an initiative passes, the legislature cannot later change that initiative without another vote of the people, unless the original initiative itself authorized the legislature to change it without another popular vote.

American Solidarity Party Sets In-Person National Convention

The American Solidarity Party will hold an in-person national convention in Plano, Texas, June 30-July 2. Five individuals are seeking the party’s presidential nomination: Jacqueline Abernathy, Erskine Levi Jr., Mark Powell, Peter Sonski, and Mike Vick. They will have been chosen in an on-line party-administered presidential primary just prior to the convention, and the winners will address the convention.

In 2020 the party polled 39,230 votes for its presidential nominee, Brian Carroll. In 2016, its first presidential race, it polled 6,474 for Michael Maturen.