The Arizona legislature met all night, June 30-July 1, and adjourned at 7:30 a.m. on July 1. In a surprise, the bill to set up a public vote on whether to keep the state’s public funding, failed to pass the House. It was never brought up.

Certain other election law bills did pass the legislature. SB 1123, to switch Tucson city elections from partisan elections to non-partisan elections, passed. Also passing was SB 1091, the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. It says that out-of-staters may circulate for an independent presidential candidate, but they may not work on any other type of petition in Arizona. That bill also moves the independent presidential deadline to 60 days before the general election (i.e., early September) but keeps the deadline for all other independent candidates in June.

SB 1091 also says that initiative petition signers must fill in all the petition blanks in their own hand. However, it continues to be true that petitions for independent candidates, and for new parties, can let the circulator fill in the address, the printed name, and the date, on behalf of the signer, if the signer wishes.