State legislatures are settling down to work. In Washington state, Rep. Sam Hunt is re-working HB 1534, a bill which will improve ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates. It was introduced in 2007 and was only marginally useful. But Representative Hunt, with input from minor party activists, is amending it. Washington state has two-year legislative sessions, so the bill is still alive. It is likely that the bill will set up a procedure by which a new or previously unqualified party can submit a petition to qualify itself, before it has chosen its nominees. Washington is now the only state in the western half of the U.S. which lacks such a procedure.

In Missouri, Rep. Ted Hoskins has introduced HB 1310, which would make ballot access worse. He introduced a similar bill last year. It requires an independent candidate to submit a declaration of candidacy in March (the petitions themselves would continue to be due in July). Since the bill does not have an exception for independent presidential candidates, it is unconstitutional under Anderson v Celebrezze. It is also unconstitutional under McCarthy v Kirkpatrick, a 1976 3-judge U.S. District Court decision from Missouri.

In New Mexico, three bills have been introduced to provide a means for a major party member to get on a primary ballot, even if that candidate did not have much support at a party endorsements convention. They are HB 190, SB 1, and HB 203. The bills don’t affect qualified minor parties.

In New Hampshire, Senator Peter Burling has introduced SB 437. Its purpose is to replace the old law that was held unconstitutional last year, on the subject of who can get the statewide list of registered voters. The old law said only qualified parties could obtain it. The bill expands that to candidates and political committees (an unqualified political party would fit into the “political committee” category).

In Oklahoma, ballot access improvement bills from last year are still alive, since the state has two-year legislative sessions. They are SB 28 and HB 1539. Thanks to Ruth Bennett, Nancy Ross, Howard Wilson, and Carol Miller, for these items.