On February 7, Pennsylvania held special elections in three representative districts. Democrats won all three, and there were no minor party or independent candidates.

In the 32nd and 34th districts, in November 2020, there had been no Republican candidate on the ballot, so it isn’t possible to compare the results of the special election with the last election.

In the 35th district, the Republican nominee had polled 33.9% of the vote in November 2020, but only got 25.4% of the vote on February 7, 2023.

Ballot Access News has just learned that in 2021, the Colorado law for presidential ballot access in the general election was made much more severe. The easy method for getting on for president in the general election, a filing fee of $1,000, was repealed. Now the only method for an independent presidential candidate to get on the ballot is a petition of 12,000 signatures, with a severe distribution requirement. There must be 1,500 signatures from each of the eight U.S. House districts.

The 2021 law change did not affect the ability of groups to become qualified political parties. That still takes 10,000 signatures, and once a party is qualified, it may place a presidential candidate on the November ballot with no petition. Thanks to Gary Swing for this news.

The 2021 bill was a complete recodification of the election law, SB 21-250.

Illinois Congressman Sean Casten, a Democrat who represents some of the Chicago suburbs and who has been in Congress since 2018, has introduced a constitutional amendment to alter the U.S. Senate, and also to somewhat alter the electoral college. Here is the text.

It would add twelve U.S. Senators to be elected at-large. Voters of the District of Columbia and U.S. territories would be allowed to vote for these Senators. Four of them would be elected in each election. Ranked choice voting would be used to elect them.

The proposed amendment says nothing about how candidates for Senate-at-large would get on the ballot. Obviously there would need to be a federal ballot access law, because it would make no sense if the various candidates were on the ballot in some states but not other states.

The amendment also says there would be twelve new presidential electors, also elected at-large. These candidates would also need a federal ballot access law. Thanks to Fairvote for this news.