Alaska Representative Sarah Vance (R-Homer) has introduced a bill to restore the ability of parties to nominate candidates. Thanks to Fairvote for this news. The bill doesn’t have a number yet.
12
Three New Hampshire state representatives have introduced HB 116, which would make it much more difficult for candidates to get on primary ballots for Governor, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House. The bill would increase the filing fee for Governor and Senator from $100 to $10,000; and for U.S. House from $50 to $5,000.
The new filing fees would also apply to independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties.
The petitions in lieu of filing fee would also be vastly increased. For Governor and Senator, from 200 signatures to 25,000; for U.S. House, from 100 to 12,500.
The obvious objection to the bill is that New Hampshire primary ballots are not crowded for those offices. In 2022, there was one name on the Democratic primary ballot for Governor; three on the Democratic primary ballot for Senator; six on the Republican primary ballot for Governor; and ten on the Republican primary ballot for U.S. Senator.
The bill does not change filing fees for the presidential primary, and those ballots are far more crowded. In 2020 the Republican primary ballot had 17 names, and the Democratic primary had 25 names. The filing fee for president is $1,000.
The sponsors are: (1) Joe Sweeney (R-Salem) who has served in the House starting in 2012; (2) Joe Alexander (R-Goffstown) who has served starting in 2018; (3) Ross Berry (R-Manchester) who has served since 2020.
It may be that the motivation for this bill is dissatisfaction with the 2022 Republican primary for U.S. Senate. The race was close between Donald Bolduc and Chuck Morse, and these three legislators might feel that they wish Morse had won, and that if fewer candidates had been on the ballot, Morse would have won. Thanks to several people for news about this bill.
Oregon Senator Suzanne Weber (R-Tillamook) has introduced SB 499. It moves the primary for all office from May to the first Tuesday in March. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.
The bill would have no effect on minor party petition dates or nominating convention dates.
Connecticut puts parties on the ballot in the order of their vote in the last gubernatorial election. In 2018, the Connecticut Independent Party won the third line by outpolling the Working Families Party in the gubernatorial race. But in 2022, the Working Families Party regained the third line by outpolling the Independent Party.
The Independent Party in past gubernatorial elections had always nominated the Republican nominee, until 2022, when it ran its own nominee, who polled .98%. It was the first time in the Independent Party’s history that it had run for a statewide state office in Connecticut and failed to get 1%. In Connecticut, where qualified status is office-by-office, the vote test is 1%, so the Independent Party is no longer qualified for governor, although it still is for all the other statewide state offices.
Georgia will hold a special election on January 31 to fill the vacant State Senate seat, district 11. Because it is a special election, no candidate needs a petition. Only three candidates filed, a Democrat, a Republican, and a Libertarian, John Monds. It is extremely unusual for any third party to ever be on a Georgia ballot for State Senate, because in regular elections, about 6,000 signatures are needed.