On February 1, the Virginia House Privileges & Elections Committee defeated HB 1862. It would have provided that if a presidential elector votes for someone in the electoral college who is not the party nominee, he would deem to have resigned, and would be replaced by the others.
On February 24, the Utah House passed HB 393 by 43-26. It provides that if a candidate at a party nominating convention receives at least 70% of the vote, there would be no primary for that party, for that office. Current law allows candidates to petition onto the primary ballot even if they have little support at the party nominating meeting, but that provision would be eliminated when someone got 70% of the convention vote.
On February 15, the South Dakota Senate passed SB 40 by 18-16. It changes the nomination procedure for major parties to nominate for Attorney General, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Auditor, Public Service Commissioner, and School Commissioner. Currently parties nominate by convention for those offices. The bill would change that to nomination by primary.
Bills have been introduced in the Tennessee legislature to add a question about party membership on the voter registration form. They are SB 1144 by Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald), and HB 1045 by Representative Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown).
The bills also provide that in the 2024 primary, every voter would be asked about joining a party. Then, starting in 2026, primaries would be closed; only registered party members would be able to vote in a party primary.
Tennessee has never had partisan registration. That is true of most southern states.
Five Republican members of the New York Assembly have introduced A3312. It lowers the number of signatures for a statewide independent candidate, and the statewide nominee of an unqualified party, from 45,000 signatures to 15,000 signatures. It changes the petition deadline for all independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from May to August. It expands the petitioning period from six weeks to twelve weeks.
It also eases the definition of a qualified party, from a group that polled 2% for the office at the top of the ticket (president/Governor) to a group that polled 50,000 votes for the office at the top of the ticket. The vote test would need to be met every two years.
In 2020, the Libertarian Party polled 60,383 votes for president in New York.
The lead sponsor is Ken Blankenbush. The co-sponsors are Joe Angelino, Joseph DeStefano, Brian Miller, and Chris Tague.
