New Hampshire Bill to Tell National Conventions Whom to Seat

Posted on by February 19, 2023
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Fourteen Republican State Senators in New Hampshire have introduced SB 271. It is a very short bill concerning national conventions of political parties. It says, “The New Hampshire delegates shall be seated and have complete voting rights.”

The motive for the bill is the expectation that in 2024, the Democratic Party will refuse to seat some or all of the New Hampshire Democratic delegates who will have been elected in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary. The national Democratic Party has recently determined that it wants South Carolina to hold the first Democratic presidential primary, so assuming New Hampshire holds the first presidential primary, the New Hampshire action will violate Democratic national party rules.

Three times, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that national party conventions are free to set their own rules about which delegates get seated. Therefore, SB 271 cannot be enforced even if it is enacted. In 1972 the Democratic national rules did not permit winner-take-all presidential primaries, but California had such a primary, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of the Democratic national convention to refuse to seat all the California delegates. It also upheld the right of the party to refuse to seat the Illinois delegation, which had broken national party rules on the required diversity of state delegations to national conventions. Those cases were O’Brien v Brown in 1972 (the California case), and Cousins v Wigoda in 1975 (Illinois).

In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled in Democratic Party of the U.S. v La Follette that the 1980 convention had the right to refuse to seat the Wisconsin delegation, because the national party rules banned presidential primaries which were open to all voters (later the Democratic Party gave a waiver to the Wisconsin Democratic Party to allow the open primary to continue to be used).

Mississippi Senate Passes Bill to Restore the Statewide Initiative Process

Posted on by February 18, 2023
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On February 9, the Mississippi Senate passed SCR 533 and SB 2638. They restore the statewide initiative process. Mississippi had the initiative process until 2021, when the State Supreme Court ruled the old law was fatally flawed and couldn’t be used. The problem with the old law was that it said signatures were needed from all five of the state’s congressional districts, but afterwards the state lost one of its U.S. House districts.

The new bill is considerably harsher than the old law. The old law required signatures of 12% of the last gubernatorial vote, but the new bill requires 12% of the number of registered voters. The old requirement, after the 2019 gubernatorial election, was 106,190 signatures, but the new requirement is approximately 240,000.

The bill says no one may circulate the petition who doesn’t live in Mississippi, and bans paying circulators on a per-signature basis. But the old law had those characteristics also. The new bill requires the 12% requirement to be met in every U.S. House district, but the old law had that provision as well.

The bills now go to the House. If they pass, the voters will vote on the idea in November 2023.

Iowa Bill to Make it More Difficult for Voters to Switch Parties

Posted on by February 18, 2023
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Nine Iowa Representatives have introduced HF 148, which makes it impossible for any voter to change party affiliation between 147 days before a primary, and the date of the general election. Current law lets independent voters join a party on primary day if they wish to vote in that party’s primary.

All of the sponsors are Republicans.

News Story Explains that New Jersey Legislature Has Never Enacted a Law to Determine Which Parties Qualify to have Registered Voters

Posted on by February 17, 2023
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This New Jersey Globe story explains that New Jersey allows voters to register into any unqualified party that ever sued the state to obtain registration rights. The seven unqualified parties that have sued the state over registration are the Libertarian, Green, Natural Law, Reform, Constitution, Socialist, and Conservative Parties. Some of these parties no longer exist. But because the legislature has never enacted any law to determine which unqualified parties have registration rights, the original list remains in place, and there is no mechanism for a new minor party to apply for registration rights.

The article mentions the Moderate Party of New Jersey, which is suing the state over fusion. The Moderate Party says the State Constitution requires the state to allow two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. Ironically, though, as the article mentions, the Moderate Party can’t even have registered members, because there is no law or regulation on how an unqualified party can get registration rights. Of course, the Moderate Party could sue the state to get registration rights, and presumably would win.

Hawaii Bill for a Presidential Primary Advances

Posted on by February 17, 2023
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On February 16, the Hawaii Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 1005 by 4-1. It establishes a presidential primary. Hawaii is one of the few states that has never held a government-administered presidential primary.

All qualified parties would be eligible for a presidential primary. Presidential candidates would need 100 signatures plus a filing fee of $3,000, although if they sign a pledge to voluntarily limit their campaign spending, the fee would be $2,675. Indigent presidential candidates could avoid the fee if they submit a petition of one-half of 1% of the registered voters, which would be approximately 4,000 signatures. Thanks to Josh Putnam for this news.

The presidential primary would be in March.