According to this article in the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio State Senator Bill Seitz (R-Cincinnati) wants his ballot access restrictions to pass before the end of 2013, because he wants them in place for the 2014 election. His bill, SB 193, would require 55,809 valid signatures by the end of June 2014, for any party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties to be on the 2014 ballot. His bill then also requires separate petitions for each of that party’s nominees.

Seitz is also the author of the bill that already passed earlier this year, which would make it illegal for such parties to use out-of-state circulators. A lawsuit against that law is pending in U.S. District Court.

The Columbus Dispatch does not mention that courts have sometimes ruled that it violates due process for a state to increase the number of signatures in the middle of the petitioning period. For example, in 1999, West Virginia doubled the petition requirement from 1% to 2% of the last gubernatorial vote, but a U.S. District Court in 2000 ruled that the new increase could not be implemented for the 2000 election. That case was Nader 2000 Primary Committee v Hechler, 112 F.Supp.2d 575.