Arizona Secretary of State Says No Labels Party Petition is Valid

On March 7, the Arizona Secretary of State announced that the No Labels Party petition has enough valid signatures. It will be on the 2024 and 2026 ballot with its own primary each year.

Arizona treats newly-qualifying parties very kindly. Whereas primary candidates of old, established parties need a difficult petition to get themselves on the primary ballot, primary candidates for parties that are less than four years old have a very easy petition to get themselves on a primary ballot. Furthermore, a write-in candidate in a new party’s primary only needs one write-in vote to win the nomination, assuming no one else is running against that person.

When Americans Elect was on the Arizona ballot in 2012 and 2014, people who wanted to appear on the November ballot took advantage of this law, and entered the primary of Americans Elect. So Americans Elect had two U.S. House candidates on the November 2012 ballot. In November 2014 it had two U.S. House candidates and two legislative candidates.

It is not clear if No Labels Party will want any candidates for office other than President, and No Labels Party is not even committed to running for president. But in Arizona, there will probably be No Labels Party candidates for congress and state office, no matter what the No Labels leadership wants. Americans Elect never wanted any non-presidential candidates. It is conceivable that if U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema runs for re-election, she would do so as a No Labels nominee. Thanks to Eric Wong for the news about the No Labels petition success.

Redondo Beach, California Voters Approve Ranked Choice Voting

On March 7, the voters of Redondo Beach, California, voted to use ranked choice voting for elections for city office. Redondo Beach is a charter city. California law does not allow cities to make this decision, unless they are charter cities. Most California cities are not charter cities.

The city council had put the measure on the ballot. Redondo Beach is the first city in Los Angeles County to use ranked choice voting. The measure passed with 75% support. Redondo Beach has a population of 70,000.

New Hampshire Bill that Eases Deadline for Declaration of Candidacy Has a Work Session Set

New Hampshire HB 363 has a work session in committee set for March 7, at 3 p.m. This is the bill that relaxes the declaration of candidacy deadline from June to July, for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. The New Hampshire declaration of candidacy deadline even applies to independent presidential candidates, so moving the deadline would allow greater flexibility for potential independent presidential candidates.

When a New Hampshire legislative committee sets a work session, that is a sign that the bill is being taken seriously.