On February 6, the New Mexico Senate Rules Committee tabled SJR 7, which would have established a top-five system, with no party nominees. The vote was 5-4. The sponsors are Senator Bill Tallman and Representative Joy Garratt, both Democrats from Albuquerque.
The Asheville, North Carolina daily newspaper, the Citizen Times, has this op-ed criticizing the North Carolina law that does not permit anyone to serve on a county election board, or the state election board, unless they are a member of one of the two largest parties. The author is Moe Davis, a former Democratic Party congressional nominee and a former administrative law judge.
The op-ed does not mention that the law is currently being challenged in U.S. District Court.
Georgie held a special election for State Senate, 11th district, on January 31. Here is a link to the results.
When this seat was last up, in November 2022, there had been only one candidate on the ballot, the Republican nominee.
on Saturday, February 4, the Democratic National Committee determined that in 2024, the early Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses should proceed on this calendar: South Carolina on February 3, New Hampshire and Nevada on February 6, Georgia on February 13, Michigan on February 27, and all others in the period March through early June.
However, the Republican National Committee has no plans to change its early calendar, which still consists of Iowa first, then New Hampshire, then South Carolina, then Nevada, all in February; other states March through June.
If the New Hampshire legislature ignores the Democratic plan, the Democratic Party may deprive New Hampshire Democrats of part or all of their national convention delegation, and also provide that New Hampshire Democratic delegates be chosen in caucuses, or in a party-administered primary. The Democratic Party will probably also not be able to persuade the Georgia legislature to make the needed date change. But the Michigan primary has already been moved to the February 27 date, and Nevada Democrats are free to hold their caucuses regardless of state election laws.
In 2020, the only February presidential primaries were in New Hampshire (February 11) and South Carolina (February 29).
On February 2, the Missouri House passed HJR 43. It is a proposed constitutional amendment to require statewide initiatives to pass with 60% of the popular vote. If the bill passes the entire legislature, it will be on the ballot as a ballot measure in 2024.
The measure is worded so that the first sentence says the measure would require voters to be U.S. citizens. The language about raising the vote threshold to 60% follows, and is therefore less visible. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
