The sponsors have asked the House State Affairs Committee to hold the giant, 93-page election consolidation bill, HB 637, and will instead work on the bill more over the summer and bring it back next year. Lobbyist John Watts said, “There’s a lot of ragged ends that need to be tied up. … There was no agenda to try to force this on anybody. We really want to create a good, solid election reform bill. We’ll get everyone at the table over the summer.” The measure sought to move all elections, for the hundreds of special districts across the state that now hold their own elections, under county clerks, who would run unified elections just twice a year with common polling places.

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