On Monday, April 10, the North Dakota House voted to override the veto of HB 1273. Governor Doug Burgum had vetoed it last week. It prohibits Fargo from continuing to use Approval Voting for elections for its own officers. Now the Senate will also consider whether to override the veto.
On April 6, the Delaware Senate passed SB 57, which provides that if a presidential elector does not vote for the nominee of his or her party, that elector is replaced with someone else who will. The bill does not specify whether the reference to a party presidential nominee refers to the national party, or the state party. In the past there have been instances when a state party nominated someone for president who was not the person who won that party’s national convention nomination. For instance, in 1968, the Alabama Democratic Party’s presidential nominee was George Wallace, whereas the national party nominee was Hubert Humphrey.
on April 7, the Maryland legislature passed SB 379, which moves the 2024 primary from April to the second Tuesday in May. The bill does not change the primary date for years beyond 2024. The reason for the bill is that, without a change, the 2024 primary would fall on Passover.
On March 30, the Georgia Libertarian Party filed this reply brief in Graham v Georgia Attorney General, 22-13396, in the Eleventh Circuit. This is the case that challenges the Georgia campaign finance law that lets individuals give bigger donations to Republican and Democratic nominees for Governor and Lieutenant Governor than they are permitted to give other candidates for those offices.
The Montana House State House Administration Committee will hear SB 565 and SB 566 on Friday, April 14. These are two bills that drastically worsen ballot access. SB 565 would give Montana the most severe law in the nation for minor party and independent candidates for partisan office, a petition of 5% of the registered voters, with a very difficult distribution requirement for the minor party petition. For statewide office, currently no state requires a petition greater than 3% of the last gubernatorial vote (for mandatory procedures), and other than Alabama, none is greater than 2% of the last vote cast.
SB 565 also suffers from violating due process, because it raises the vote test to a level that would dump the Libertarian Party off the ballot, and takes effect immediately, so the party would not even have a chance to try to meet the new vote test. This violates court decisions that raising the requirements for retention of a party cannot take effect immediately.
SB 566 would impose a top-two system for U.S. Senate in 2024, but would not apply to any other office or any election year beyond 2024. It is openly touted as a means to keep the Libertarian Party off the November 2024 ballot for U.S. Senate. Montana already has an open primary, so there is no pretense that the bill is for the purpose of letting independent voters vote in primaries. Here is an article about SB 566 in The Hill.
