Nevada AB 81 has been amended to provide that petitions for a new party must be completed by April of an election year. Current law requires these petitions to be completed by May. AB 81 is one of the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bills. It has passed the Assembly and the Senate Legislative Operations and Elections Committee, and will probably receive a vote in the Senate in two days.

In 1986 a U.S. District Court struck down Nevada’s old April petition deadline for new parties. That case was Libertarian Party of Nevada v Swackhamer, 638 F.Supp. 565. At the time, Nevada required newly-qualifying parties to nominate by primary. Ever since 1987, Nevada has provided that newly-qualifying parties nominate by convention, so moving the petition deadline back to April is supremely irrational. The bill says the deadline to turn the signatures in to the Secretary of State will be in May. However, another law, not being amended by AB 81, says that the true deadine is 25 working days before deadline for the Secretary of State to receive the signatures, so the effective deadline imposed by the bill is April. Thanks to Janine Hansen for this news.