On March 3, the Oklahoma Senate passed SB 233. It moves the presidential primary from the first Tuesday in March to the fourth Tuesday in March. Oklahoma’s presidential primary is separate from its primary for other office, and this change has no impact on petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties or independent candidates.

Oklahoma has never held a presidential primary for any party other than the Democratic or Republican Parties. If this bill is signed into law, and if a newly-qualifying party is able to get on the ballot in 2016, if that group’s petition is submitted early enough, it would qualify for its own presidential primary.

Many states will be holding presidential primaries on March 1 in 2016. Oklahoma legislators believe that if the Oklahoma presidential primary is on that same day, chances are Oklahoma won’t get much attention. But the Oklahoma primary will get attention if it is the only state, or perhaps one of only two or three states, holding a March 29 primary. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for news about the bill.