On March 14, the Arizona House passed HB 2304 by a vote of 51-5. Among many other election law changes, it says that when a political party gets on the ballot, it is then on the ballot for the next two elections, instead of just one election. If this bill is signed into law, the Arizona Green Party will be on the ballot in 2012.

The bill also legalizes out-of-state circulators for all types of petition. The existing law says out-of-state circulators may work on an independent presidential candidate’s petition, but no other kind of petition.

Unfortunately, the House amended the bill so that it no longer makes it easier for a member of a newly-qualifying party to get on his or her own party’s primary ballot. The existing law for that requires a petition signed by members of that party, equal to one-tenth of 1% of the vote for that same office in the last general election. The number of signatures for candidates to get on a primary of an old established party is more lenient, one-half of 1% of that party’s membership. However, the existing law also makes it very easy for a candidate to win a new party’s primary on write-in votes at that party’s primary.