Alabama Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) will introduce a ballot access bill on February 28. The legislative counsel has finished drafting the bill. It will lower the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote to 1.5% of the last gubernatorial vote. It moves the deadline for party petitions from the day of the primary to three weeks after the run-off primary. For 2014, the statewide requirement would be 22,415 valid signatures, due in August, if the bill passes.

The bill also cuts the number of signatures in half for non-presidential independents, but it does not move the petition deadline for them. A similar bill passed the Senate in 2011, but the House did not pass it.