Montana House Committee Hears Bills to Worsen Ballot Access on April 14, Friday

Posted on by April 9, 2023
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The Montana House State House Administration Committee will hear SB 565 and SB 566 on Friday, April 14. These are two bills that drastically worsen ballot access. SB 565 would give Montana the most severe law in the nation for minor party and independent candidates for partisan office, a petition of 5% of the registered voters, with a very difficult distribution requirement for the minor party petition. For statewide office, currently no state requires a petition greater than 3% of the last gubernatorial vote (for mandatory procedures), and other than Alabama, none is greater than 2% of the last vote cast.

SB 565 also suffers from violating due process, because it raises the vote test to a level that would dump the Libertarian Party off the ballot, and takes effect immediately, so the party would not even have a chance to try to meet the new vote test. This violates court decisions that raising the requirements for retention of a party cannot take effect immediately.

SB 566 would impose a top-two system for U.S. Senate in 2024, but would not apply to any other office or any election year beyond 2024. It is openly touted as a means to keep the Libertarian Party off the November 2024 ballot for U.S. Senate. Montana already has an open primary, so there is no pretense that the bill is for the purpose of letting independent voters vote in primaries. Here is an article about SB 566 in The Hill.

New York State Trial Court Strikes Down 2021 Law that Forbade Primary Voters From Writing In a Non-Member Candidate

Posted on by April 9, 2023
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On April 6, the Erie County Supreme Court struck down a 2021 New York law that forbids voters in primaries from casting a write-in vote for someone who is not a member of that party. The case had been filed by voters from the Conservative Party and the Working Families Party. Kowal v Mohr, 801603/2023.

The ostensible purpose of the 2021 law was to stop “party-raiding”, in which voters who are hostile to a particular party cast insincere votes in that party’s primary, in order to injure that party. But all the available evidence suggested that rarely, if ever, happens. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news. The basis for the decision was the state constitutional protection of the right to vote.

North Dakota Expected to Vote on Monday, April 10, on Whether to Override Veto of Bill Banning Approval Voting

Posted on by April 8, 2023
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The North Dakota House expects to vote on HB 1273 on Monday, April 10. This is the bill that bans approval voting and ranked choice voting. Governor Doug Burgum had vetoed it, and the House will vote on whether or not to override his veto.

So far this year, there have been four vetoes of any North Dakota bills, and the House has overridden two of them.

Idaho Governor Signs Bill Moving Presidential Primary from March to May

Posted on by April 8, 2023
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On March 30, Idaho Governor Little signed HB 138, which moves the presidential primary from March to May. The bill has no effect on any filing deadlines for independent candidates or new parties. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news. UPDATE: Additional legislation may be needed in a special session to actually implement the May presidential primary, because HB 138 didn’t fill in the gaps on how to hold the presidential primary.