On February 27, the Idaho Senate passed SJR101a, which would amend the state constitution to make it far more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot. It would require them to get the signatures of 6% of the voters in all 35 legislative districts.
In 2021 the legislature had passed the same idea, but Governor Brad Little vetoed it. He is still Governor of Idaho.
On February 27, the Arizona House Rules Committee passed HCR 2033 by a vote of 8-0. It is a proposed constitutional amendment which says that all qualified parties have a right to have a nominee placed on the general election ballot. If it passes the legislature, voters would vote on it in November 2024. If it passed, it would block any statutory change that removed the ability of parties to have nominees.
On March 3, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon allowed HB 103 to become law. He wouldn’t sign it, but he didn’t veto it either, so it takes effect. It says no one may vote in a primary who has not been a registered member of the party for the preceding few months. The old law allowed anyone to join a party (and vote in its primary) on primary day.
The reason the Republican-majority legislature passed the bill is that in 2022, there was so much attention to the actions of registered Democrats who wanted to support Elizabeth Cheney in the U.S. House primary, and who switched their registration to Republican on primary day. Democratic registration in Wyoming dropped from 15.3% as of July 1, 2022, to 10.6% as of October 1, 2022. The primary had been in August 2022.
Four State Senators have introduced SF 2270, and thirty-five State Representatives have introduced HF 2486. Both of these identical bills would provide for ranked choice voting for all primaries and all general elections, for all federal and state office.
Minnesota already has considerable experience with ranked choice voting, in city elections.
On March 2, the Vermont House passed HB 97 by voice vote. It moves the petition deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from August to May. It also bans “sore losers.” But the bill was amended so it no longer bans fusion.
UPDATE: this post is inaccurate. The final version of the bill does not change the petition deadline. Also the bill is now HB 429, not HB97. For more details see the blog post of March 3.
The deadline change is unconstitutional. There are approximately 30 lawsuit decisions that say independent candidate deadlines cannot be earlier than the primary, and Vermont’s primary is in August.
