On February 19, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, signed HB 1246 into law. It expands the petitioning period for petitions to qualify a party, from 60 days of the group’s choice, to 90 days. The number of signatures remains the same, 10,000. The bill also expands the petitioning period for all non-presidential independent candidate petitions from 60 days to 90 days (the independent presidential petition has never had a limit on how long it can take to circulate, or how early it can start).