On March 11, the Oklahoma House passed HB 1072 by a vote of 86-5. It does not improve ballot access in presidential election years. But in midterm years, it makes a very large improvement in the number of signatures needed for a political party to get on the ballot. The bill keeps the 5% petition for political party ballot access in place. But by changing the base on which the 5% is calculated from the last vote cast, to the last gubernatorial vote cast, it lowers the number of signatures for a party in 2010 from 73,134 signatures to 46,324 signatures.

The bill now goes to the Senate. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for this news.