Colorado: Bipartisan Bill Seeks To Bring Back Primaries | CPR

Colorado legislators Thursday rolled out a measure that could bring back a state presidential primary, one in which all registered voters would be able to participate. The bill is a response to frustration over a caucus system that has disenchanted many voters from all political stripes. “Regardless of party affiliation, Coloradans are demanding more inclusion in the presidential primary,” said Rep. Tim Dore, R-Elizabeth, a bill sponsor. “And we stand before you today to tell them, ‘We’re listening.’”

Alaska: Judge tosses Alaska Democrats’ lawsuit | Juneau Empire

A Juneau Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Alaska Democratic Party against the state of Alaska for its refusal to allow independents to appear on the party’s fall primary ballot. In his decision, Judge Louis James Menendez wrote that the state’s motion to dismiss the case was appropriate because the Alaska Democratic Party has itself not yet approved rules allowing independents onto the party ballot. That decision will not be made until the party’s statewide convention in May, when delegates will be asked to change the party’s rules.

New York: Judge Rejects Move To Open Primary To Purged Voters & Independents | Gothamist

A New York Federal District Court judge held a short-notice hearing on Tuesday afternoon in relation to a lawsuit filed yesterday against the state by dozens of New York voters, alleging that their registrations in the Democratic party had been purged or altered, preventing them from voting in today’s presidential primary. The lawsuit, which claims that voters inexplicably dropped from the voter rolls are being denied their constitutional rights, called on the judge to instate a hearing process by which New Yorkers who believe their registration has been wrongfully purged might defend themselves. “Usually what happens is the Board of Elections takes your provisional ballot, and checks it against the voter rolls. If it it doesn’t match they throw it out,” said attorney Jonathan Clarke outside the courtroom this afternoon. “What we’re asking is that your vote stay counted until the Board of Elections can actually [prove you’re not registered].”

Minnesota: Primary vs. caucus: State legislature, governor seem ready to make change | St, Paul Pioneer Press

After more than 321,000 Minnesotans stuffed themselves into schools, churches, fire halls, snowmobile groups and Lions Clubs across the state to take part in presidential picking last month, Capitol and party leaders, as well as many voters, decided it is time for a change. Within days of the March 1 caucuses, leaders and their constituents began clamoring for the state to move from a presidential caucus system to a presidential primary. The volume was too great, the lines were too long and the caucus sites too chaotic for the system to continue, supporters said. Despite bogging down on other issues, the Legislature and the governor appear ready to make the change. In both the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-Farmer-Labor controlled Senate, measures to change the 2020 presidential selection process into a primary are zipping along.

Editorials: GOP nomination process 101: Candidates’ remedial edition | Derek T. Muller/Reuters

Donald Trump has complained that the Republican primary process is a “rigged, disgusting, dirty system” that deprives people of the chance to vote for their preferred presidential candidate. He accuses the Republican Party of stealing delegates from him. If he thinks this system is complex, Trump should look to the GOP’s past primary elections. Now, those were complicated! As recently as 2012, for example, some states used a three-step voting process that often yielded two opposing outcomes. But the Republican National Committee worked with state parties to streamline and standardize the 2016 election to minimize confusing results. Some complexity remains because each of the 50 states can set its own rules. As the founding fathers devised, U.S. presidential elections are not national races. Rather, they occur state by state, which inevitably creates some complexity. But there are clear and now simpler rules. Candidates just need to read them.

Maine: Legislature approves bill to create presidential primaries in Maine | Sun Journal

The Legislature has sent Gov. Paul LePage a bill that would move Maine back to a statewide presidential primary in 2020. It’s a move LePage has said he supports, but at least a handful of state lawmakers are questioning whether all taxpayers should have to foot the $1 million to $2 million bill for a March election that only benefits the state’s major parties. LePage, who had yet to act on the bill, said Wednesday he favors a system that would allow all registered voters to participate. “If you’re an American citizen, you should have the right to vote,” LePage said. It’s a sentiment shared by some lawmakers who opposed the switch to a primary system geared only toward registered Republicans and Democrats.

Montana: Thousands of voters will miss presidential primary because of election confusion | Billings Gazette

Every presidential election year, there’s a twist in Montana voting procedure that causes some voters to miss the primary. It all has to do with ballots. “That’s one of the problems with our hybrid election system in Montana,” said Brett Rutherford, Yellowstone County elections officer. The confusion begins this Friday when nearly every voter in Yellowstone County is mailed a ballot for school elections. All but one school district in Yellowstone County conducts mail-ballot-only elections, Rutherford said. The exception is tiny Custer School District, which has only a few hundred voters, who still have to go to a polling place to cast ballots.

New York: Early primary deadlines frustrate New Yorkers left unable to vote | The Guardian

A lot has changed in the presidential primaries since 9 October 2015. Back then, a CBS News poll showed Hillary Clinton beating Bernie Sanders nationally by nearly 20 points; if Joe Biden had entered the race, the same poll suggested Clinton would beat Sanders by 24 points. She was, in the minds of many liberal voters, the inevitable Democratic nominee. Another CBS News poll showed Donald Trump with a slim six-point lead over Dr Ben Carson nationally and, after two almost cartoonish debate performances, most Republicans and pundits expected the businessman’s numbers to slide and eventually eliminate him from contention. Quietly on that same day, the New York state board of elections’ deadline to change party affiliation passed, leaving any registered voters not identified as a Republican or a Democrat with no way to vote in the 19 April 2016 primary.

Utah: GOP tells court it won’t comply with controversial election law | Deseret News

The Utah Republican Party doesn’t intend to comply with the state’s controversial election law, even after the Utah Supreme Court rejected its arguments that political parties and not candidates decide how to access the primary election ballot. The Utah GOP argues that the court’s ruling forces it to accept candidates who seek a nomination for office solely through the signature gathering process, which violates its bylaws, according to a new federal court filing Wednesday. “The party is concerned that a candidate will be certified and imposed on the party who does not satisfy the requirements and follow the rules,” attorneys Marcus Mumford and Christ Troupis wrote.

Maine: Bill to switch Maine to presidential primaries moves forward | The Portland Press Herald

The campaign to hold presidential primaries in Maine took a tentative step forward Monday. A legislative committee voted unanimously in support of a bill that directs the Secretary of State’s Office to begin the groundwork for switching Maine from a caucus state to a primary state starting with the 2020 presidential election. The push toward holding primary elections gained traction last month after a record number of voters overwhelmed some caucus sites. Lawmakers added a clause to the bill, L.D. 1673, that would allow the Legislature to stick with caucuses if it is uncomfortable with the anticipated cost or other aspects of holding primaries. “We’re moving in a different direction but recognizing that we need to figure out a lot of these details,” said Sen. Justin Alfond, D-Portland, the lead sponsor of the bill.

Utah: State Supreme Court hears arguments over disputed state election law | Deseret News

Utah Supreme Court justices poked at the Utah Republican Party’s interpretation of a controversial new state election law in a hearing Monday as hundreds of candidates work to get on the primary ballot. Though lawyers for the GOP, Utah Democratic Party or the state didn’t want to read the tea leaves afterward, questions from Justices Deno Himonas and Christine Durham might signal where the court is headed. Republican Party attorney Marcus Mumford argued that the state can’t tell political parties how to select their nominees for public office. “This statute doesn’t do that,” Durham said. Under the law, organizations that register with the state as a “qualified political party” — which the Utah Republican Party did — must allow candidates to gather petition signatures, go through the party’s convention or both to secure a place on the primary election ballot.

Arizona: Officials weigh caucus vs. primary | Associated Press

Fresh off a troubled presidential primary marked by long lines and frustrated voters, Arizona officials are debating changes in how the state weighs in on the race for the White House. Arizona’s top election official, Republican Secretary of State Michele Reagan, is supporting legislation that would stop state presidential primary funding and push Arizona to a party-funded caucus system. Meanwhile, nearby Utah is considering going the opposite direction — returning to a primary — after its caucuses Tuesday saw disappointing turnout and voter confusion. Another Arizona Republican, Gov. Doug Ducey, wants to include even more potential voters and is demanding election fixes to avoid a repeat of Tuesday’s hours-lines lines at polls in the state’s largest county. Ducey’s spokesman said Friday he doesn’t support ending presidential primaries, pointing to high voter interest. Instead he wants changes to a law that keeps independents from voting.

Montana: Supreme Court rejects appeal; Montana primaries will stay open | Associated Press

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a Republican Party appeal seeking to close Montana’s primary elections in June, meaning any registered voter will be able to select a GOP ballot. The Montana Republican Party and eight central county committees want to require primary voters to register as Republicans before being allowed to participate in the June 7 elections. Two lower courts had denied their request for an emergency injunction, resulting in the long-shot appeal to the nation’s high court. The court takes up very few petitions it receives, but in this case, Justice Anthony Kennedy had requested more information about the issue. That had given GOP attorney Matthew Monforton a glimmer of hope that the court would intervene, but it denied the appeal without comment a day after all the arguments had been filed. “We’re going to just continue on and seek relief with regard to crossover voting in the 2018 primaries,” Monforton said.

Utah: Gov. Herbert calls for return to presidential primary elections in Utah | Deseret News

Gov. Gary Herbert said Thursday he would have preferred that Utah had held a presidential primary election instead of this week’s caucus voting, and he called for a return to the state-run primaries in the future. “It is kind of a good news, disappointing news scenario. The good news is we had great turnout to caucus night, which is good, and we need to have that continue,” he said during his monthly news conference on KUED Ch.7. But the governor said it was disappointing to find out that Tuesday’s turnout was down by “a significant amount” compared with the 2008 state-run presidential primary, nearly 200,000 voters. The drop from the most recent presidential primary with competitive races for both major parties came despite campaign stops this year by four of the five candidates and a record $1.6 million-plus in TV and radio commercials.

Montana: GOP challenges cross-over voters | SCOTUSblog

The Montana Republican Party and eight of its county-level committees have asked the Supreme Court to bar non-Republicans from crossing over and casting GOP ballots in the state’s “open primary” election on June 7. The application (Ravalli County Republican Central Committee v. McCulloch, 15A911) seeks action by the Court by March 31. The state has been told to reply by Tuesday afternoon. Potentially, this dispute over cross-over voters could affect all of the eleven states that now have an “open primary” — that is, one in which voters are not restricted to vote only for a specific party’s candidates for state and congressional offices. The request was filed with Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, who handles emergency legal matters from the geographic area that is the Ninth Circuit, which includes Montana. Kennedy has the option of acting on his own or sharing the request with the other Justices.

Minnesota: Presidential primary push gets underway at Capitol | Minnesota Public Radio

A Minnesota House committee began the debate Wednesday about switching Minnesota to a presidential primary. Lawmakers began calling for the move after many precinct caucus sites were overwhelmed by heavier-than-expected turnout on March 1. Primary supporters say now is the time to make the change. But there are still a lot of Interest in this year’s presidential contest is running high, and lots of Minnesotans showed up at precinct caucuses to vote for their preferred candidates. It was record turnout for state Republicans and nearly a record for Democrats. But unlike a typical election, everyone had to arrive at roughly the same time, and that caused problems.

Montana: U.S. Supreme Court orders Montana to respond to GOP primary concerns | Associated Press

Worried that outsiders will force the election of Donald Trump in Montana’s open June 7 primary, groups within the Montana GOP want out and are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent the state from stopping the party’s exit. On Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy ordered Montana to respond to the GOP’s argument by Tuesday. “When you talk about a presidential election, the Supreme Court has said open primaries cannot be required,” said former Montana legislator Matthew Monforton, lawyer for 10 Montana County Republican committees involved in the lawsuit.

Alabama: GOP: Keep Democrats out of our primary elections | AL.com

Imagine if Alabama football coach Nick Saban chose the players for the Auburn football team. Or vice versa with Auburn coach Gus Malzahn choosing the Alabama football team. That’s the analogy Terri Lathan, chair of the Alabama Republican Party, made Monday in explaining why state GOP leaders want a closed primary in the future. A closed primary, of course, would allow only registered Republicans to vote in Republican primaries. In short, no Democrats allowed. And the same in the Democratic primary — no Republicans allowed.

North Carolina: Confusing primary: why so many votes won’t count | CS Monitor

North Carolinians can vote however they want in their Super Tuesday primary election, but one thing’s fairly sure: Many of those Tar Heel votes aren’t going to count. Last month, a federal three-judge panel found that Republicans drew two of the state’s congressional districts illegally, packing more black voters into districts where they already had a plurality, thus boosting Republican odds by “bleaching” surrounding districts. The result is, pretty much everyone agrees, a mess. The congressional candidates are still on the ballot along with the presidential and local candidates. But all the congressional votes will not be counted, and a new congressional primary with the new districts is scheduled for June 7.

Montana: GOP asks Supreme Court to close primary elections | Associated Press

Montana Republicans on Friday filed a long-shot appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court that seeks to block non-GOP voters from participating in their primary elections in June. The nation’s high court takes up very few of the petitions it receives. If it denies the emergency application for an injunction filed by the Montana Republican Party and eight county central committees, they will have to start preparing for a trial in a lower court that isn’t likely to happen before the June elections, attorney Matthew Monforton said. “This is our last chance to prevail in the suit before the June 2016 primary,” Monforton said. Montana Department of Justice spokesman John Barnes did not have an immediate comment.

Voting Blogs: Signs of the super things to come? | electionlineWeekly

Although absentee ballots are still arriving from overseas and provisional ballots are still being verified, for voters, depending on where they lived and which party they voted for, Super Tuesday, was indeed super in some places, in others, it was just meh. And for elections officials, who no doubt think every election is super, Tuesday’s contests in the nine states holding primaries (Alaska-GOP, America Samoa-Dems, Colorado and Minnesota all held caucuses), were a mixed bag as well with some jurisdictions registering few if any problems and others being forced to apologize for long lines and delayed results.

New York: After locking horns, Senate passes August primary election bill | Times Union

Following one of the more robust debates of the year, the state Senate on Wednesday approved legislation that would consolidate state and federal primaries to a single date in August. The bill, designed to follow federal mandates for getting out overseas absentee ballots, sparked debate over more than just New Yorkers’ voting habits and saving tens of millions of dollars on costly separate elections. It also hit on when people take their summer vacations, the need to stop “playing tiddlywinks” and pass legislation that ensures military personnel the right to vote, and whether time allows for lawmakers to campaign during the legislative session. It also featured the unusual move by a senator to stop yielding the floor for another senator to continue his line of questioning about the bill.

North Carolina: What happens now that North Carolina’s got 2 primaries? | Associated Press

A ruling by federal judges on North Carolina’s congressional districts this month has turned the primary election on its head. Now there are two primary dates — June 7 for the congressional elections and the previously scheduled March 15 for all other races. Here’s a look at how the state got to this point, what the changes mean for voters and candidates and the chances for more election complications before November. How did we get here? North Carolina held elections in 2012 and 2014 under congressional and legislative district maps the General Assembly drew in 2011. All the while four lawsuits challenging the maps meandered their way through state and federal courts. All the litigation essentially alleged Republican mapmakers created more majority black districts than legally necessary by splitting counties and precincts. Republicans said the maps were fair and legal.

Editorials: Confusion leads in North Carolina primaries | The Daily News

What a mess in North Carolina.” That’s a direct quote from Richard L. Hasen, a law professor and voting-rights expert. But you certainly don’t have to be an expert to know that, less than a month before the March 15 election, the state’s congressional-elections process is, at best, veiled in uncertainty. Here’s what we know: After the 2010 Census, the N.C. General Assembly redrew the state’s congressional districts, passing the new plan in 2011. In 2013, several state residents filed a lawsuit against Gov. Pat McCrory and the N.C. Board of Elections alleging that congressional Districts 1 and 12 had been drawn in violation of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. On Feb. 5, a three-judge panel from U.S. District Court sided with the plaintiffs. The ruling said that in drawing the districts, there was “strong evidence that race was the only non-negotiable criterion and that traditional redistricting principles were subordinated to race.”

North Carolina: Legislators complete voting map redraw; congressional primaries pushed back | Associated Press

Legislators met a Friday deadline to complete a court-ordered rewrite of North Carolina’s illegally gerrymandered congressional voting map, all the while looking ahead to further legal challenges. One legal decision quickly went against the Republican lawmakers, who still defend the previous boundaries as fair and legal. The U.S. Supreme Court late Friday refused the state’s request to keep using district lines from the 2012 and 2014 elections while the lower-court order is appealed. The denial means the state is on track to hold congressional primaries June 7 under the new map. Had the Supreme Court sided with the state, the congressional primary would have remained March 15 as previously scheduled. The state House gave final approval to the new map dividing the state’s 13 U.S. House seats after federal judges earlier this month declared the old map was illegally gerrymandered by race. Challengers had complained that legislative Republicans drew the previous congressional lines to pack black voters in two districts, leaving the rest more white and more favorable to the GOP.

Alaska: Mallott rejects Democrats’ primary change | Associated Press

Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott on Wednesday declined a request by Alaska Democrats to allow candidates not affiliated with a political party to run in the Democratic primary. State law requires a candidate seeking a party’s nomination to be a registered voter of that party. State party chair Casey Steinau has said that Democrats believe the law is unconstitutional and unenforceable based on research done by attorneys for the party. But Mallott, in a letter to Steinau, said it’s up to a court to decide whether a law is ultimately constitutional. The state intends to follow the law as it stands, said Mallott, who oversees elections in the state and said he consulted with Alaska’s Department of Law.

North Carolina: House sets congressional primary on June 7; Senate OKs new map | News & Observer

The drama around the state’s congressional districts got a confusing new chapter Thursday with a proposed reshuffling of the state’s primary elections. The state House voted not to proceed with the congressional primary March 15 and instead hold it June 7, effectively hitting the restart button on those campaigns. All other issues on the ballot – including races for governor and a statewide $2 billion bond issue – still would be decided March 15. But in a major change, the House proposal also said no runoff elections would be held in March or June. Currently, if no candidate gets 40 percent of the vote, a second primary is held. But if this change is enacted, the final winner would be the top vote-getter in the initial vote this year, no matter how many candidates compete.

Idaho: Democrats object to state-funded primary election billboards | The Spokesman-Review

The Idaho Democratic Party is protesting a statewide, 22-billboard voter education campaign launched by the Idaho Secretary of State’s office for the upcoming March 8 presidential primary, because the billboards don’t indicate that the election is just for the Republican and Constitution parties. Bert Marley, Idaho Democratic Party chairman, called the billboards “misleading and inaccurate,” and demanded that Secretary of State Lawerence Denney alter them by Monday. Denney’s office says it’s not planning any change in the $20,000 billboard campaign. The billboards say “Official Information” at the top, with a large “Idaho Votes” logo in the center, with the web address www.idahovotes.gov. Across the bottom in large red letters, the billboards say, “Presidential Primary March 8.”

North Carolina: Would delaying NC’s election violate military voters’ rights? | Fayetteville Observer

A delay in this year’s primary elections – for which absentee voting has begun – will disenfranchise overseas military personnel and other North Carolinians voting by absentee ballot, Jerry Reinoehl of Fayetteville said on Monday at a statewide public hearing. The state’s congressional districts should not be changed, he said. The districts should be revised, said Wanda Lawrence of Fayetteville, and the March 15 primary elections delayed if needed in order to protect the constitutional rights of the people living in two districts that a panel of federal judges recently ruled are unconstitutionally unfair. Those two arguments and others were made Monday during a statewide public hearing held at Fayetteville Technical Community College and five other locations on how to revise northeast North Carolina’s 1st and central North Carolina’s 12th congressional districts.