On February 8, the Virginia House of Delegates passed HB 1843 unanimously. It moves the presidential primary from early February to early March, in accordance with the wishes of the national Democratic and national Republican Parties. Unfortunately the version of the bill that passed does not lower the number of signatures for candidates in presidential primaries from 10,000 to 5,000. Virginia will continue to be the only state that requires all candidates in presidential primaries to submit a petition greater than 5,000 signatures.

Another bill that did reduce the number of signatures, and also moved the primary from February to March, is not the bill that the House passed.