On April 7, Missouri SB 797 was sent to the House Elections Committee. It has already passed the Senate. It deletes the requirement that a petition for a new party must list that party’s presidential candidate, and its candidates for presidential elector. Therefore, in the future, if this bill passes, the party petition need not name candidates for any office at all; the party chooses its nominees after the petition has been circulated.

In the meantime, Missouri HB 1310, which moves the independent petition deadline from late July to March, has not advanced in the Senate Committee that hears election law bills, ever since it had a hearing on March 31.