On March 7, the Tennessee House Local Government Committee defeated HB 1045. It would have provided that voter registration forms ask applicants if they wish to join a party. If the bill had passed, it would have made it easier for the Tennessee legislature to then switch the state’s primaries from open to closed.
On March 8, the New Mexico Senate passed HB 4. It provides that all adult resident citizens known by the state government to exist will automatically be registered to vote, unless they opt out. It also provides that felons released from prison may register to vote, even if they are still on probation or parole.
The Nebraska Senate Government, Military & Veterans Affairs Committee will hear LB 764 on Wednesday, March 15. This is the bill to eliminate the ability of each U.S. House district to elect its own presidential elector. Nebraska and Maine are the only two states that have that.
As reported earlier, on February 17, the Eighth Circuit struck down South Dakota’s petition deadline for initiatives, which was an entire year before the election. The state has not asked for reconsideration and the time for requesting reconsideration is now passed. SD Voice v Heidelberger v Noem, 21-3195.
The Texas ballot access lawsuit filed in 2019, Miller v Hughs, w.d., 1:19cv-700, resulted in the U.S. District Court upholding all of the Texas ballot access laws, except the judge said the Constitution required Texas to allow electronic signatures. He asked for briefs on how exactly to implement that relief. The Secretary of State and the plaintiff political parties could not agree on the details, so each filed their own proposed remedies. All of those briefs were filed in October 2022 and the judge has not acted on the case since then.
