West Virginia Delegate Michael Hite (R-Berkeley) has introduced HB 4751. It would move the presidential primary from May to the third Tuesday in February. The primary for non-presidential office would continue to be in May. The bill has seven co-sponsors.
On February 9, the Virginia Senate passed SB 322, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The vote was party-line, with all Democrats voting for it and all Republicans voting against it. The Democratic magin in the House is far bigger, so the bill is likely to pass. If it does, it will have passed in states with 222 electoral votes. It needs 270 before it can go into effect.
Harold Meyerson, editor-at-large of The American Prospect, here writes that California Democratic legislators ought to work to repeal California’s top-two system. Meyerson has been a Bernie Sanders supporter.
On February 9, the Wyoming House defeated HB 54. It would have raised the petition requirement for independent candidates from 2% of the last vote for U.S. House, to 5%. The bill needed a two-thirds vote to advance, because this year’s session is a budget session. It received 32 “yes” votes and 30 “no” votes. Secretary of State Chuck Gray, a Republican, had backed the bill. Here is the roll call.
Alabama State Representative Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island) has introduced HB 392. It would end elections for Public Service Commissioner. Currently these are statewide partisan races. The last time any third party was on the Alabama ballot was November 2022, when the Libertarian Party qualified. There were two seats up in 2022. Libertarians polled 16.19% for one seat, and 15.61% for the other seat. Libertarians did better for those two PSC races than they did in any other statewide races. In each case, they were two-candidate races; no Democrats ran.
