Alice Kelsey died on February 5, 2023, at the age of 89. She had been Treasurer of the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) from the early 1990’s, until about five years ago. She had lived in New York state while she was Treasurer, but had moved to North Carolina afterwards.
COFOE has existed since 1985 and is a loose coalition of most of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, along with some other organizations that care about ballot access.
On March 9, Florida state prison authorities reversed a ban on letting subscriber inmates see the January 30, 2023 issue of The Militant. That issue had been banned in one particular prison because of an article about a nurses’ strike in New York, and an article about protests in Iran.
The Militant is the weekly print newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party. It is the only remaining weekly print publication published by any political party in the U.S. See this article for the details about the Florida incident.
Although filing for a few presidential primaries opens in little more than six months from now, the date of the presidential primary is still not settled in thirteen states.
In Colorado, Georgia, and New Hampshire, a state official chooses the date, and the person with authority to set the date has not made a decision yet.
In Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Pennsylvania, the date can’t be known yet because the legislature is considering bills to change the date and the results are unpredictable at this time.
South Carolina is the only state in which the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries are not necessarily on the same date. Democrats vote on February 3, but Republicans don’t know yet when their primary will be.
Here is a lengthy story about No Labels. Although readers may know the basics, this article has some interesting details. For instance, it says the Alaska No Labels petition has been approved.
On March 22, the Ohio House Constitutional Resolutions Committee heard HJR 1. It makes it more difficult for initiatives to change the state constitution. It requires signatures from all 88 counties (the number in each county would be 5% of the number of registered voters), and says they must pass with 60% of the vote. Also it eliminates the existing provision for a “cure period”, which means if the initiative lacks enough valid signatures, the proponents have an opportunity to collect more signatures.
The measure has 35 sponsors, all Republicans. See this story about the hearing. The committee hasn’t voted yet.
