On March 31, the Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee passed HB 1615. The bill has already passed the House. It moves the petition deadline for a new party to submit its petition from May 1 to March 1. It also moves the primary (for office other than President) from July to June. It even says that a new party cannot start its petition drive later than December 31 of the year before the election. This bill is clearly unconstitutional. An identical bill, SB 602, has passed the Senate and is pending in the House Rules Committee.

Meanwhile, the bill to lower the number of signatures for a new party, HB 1058, has passed the House but has not yet passed any Senate Committee. The deadline for it to pass the Senate Rules Committee is April 7.