On February 1, five Georgia Representatives introduced HB 200, to let cities use ranked choice voting for their own elections of city officers. There are two Republican sponsors, Joseph Gullett and Clay Pirkle; and three Democrats, Stacey Evans, Mary Margaret Oliver, and Debbie Buckner.
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.
On February 7, the Libertarian National Committee issued this statement concerning the Washington, D.C. rally of February 19 that concerns foreign policy. The statement expresses some unhappiness with the speakers’ list.
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 The easy method for getting on for president in the general election, a filing fee of $1,000, was repealed.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.
Ten California legislators have introduced SCA 4, which would delete the provision in the State Constitution that does not allow felons serving time in prison to be registered voters. Here is the text. The lead sponsor is Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles), who is chair of the Assembly Elections Committee.
