The Arizona Republic has finally mentioned that the omnibus election law bill, HB 2305, contains a provision inserted at the last minute that makes it far more difficult for minor party members to get on their own party’s primary ballot. Although the bill has received a great deal of publicity over the last few weeks, this is the first mainstream media article that mentions that problem with the bill.
The bill is on Governor Jan Brewer’s desk. Activists are hoping for a veto.
No chance of a veto. This ended up being a totally partisan battle. HB 2305 was a bill that changed parts of the petitioning process for initiatives, adding some requirements for ordering pages, and some prov
It sat in a conference conference committee for two months, and then had all the pieces of bills that had not passed for some reason inserted in the bill. It was a motor scooter that sat in a garage, had parts from other vehicles attached, and emerged as an omnibus. It appears the signature requirements may not be from another bill.
Particularly interesting videos (from 6/13/13) are:
House Democratic Caucus #30
House Republican Caucus #30
House Floor Session Part 6. It is particularly interesting beginning at 10:00.
Senate Floor Session Part 8 (click on the bill number to skip to its portion). They didn’t have the votes to pass it, but there appears to be a rule that as long as someone is explaining their vote that voting is not closed. So, one after another, a Republican senator would explain their vote. Eventually, a couple of senators switched to No. A senator has to be on the prevailing side to make a motion for reconsideration.
Senate Floor Session Part 9. This was reconsideration after they got the final vote needed for passage (I suspect his arm is in a sling, recovering from being twisted). At about 8:10 Senator Gallardo is trying to get senators to switch to No based on the new signature requirements. It is a good rant, but I don’t think he understood what it was about.
Previously, signature requirements were based on the number of party registrants, but they could be gathered from any person eligible to vote in a primary, including independents.
After the Libertarian Party won their lawsuit, the SOS determined that the signatures for their candidates were limited to registered Libertarians. One reason the Libertarians opened their primary in 2012 was so that their universe of signatories included independents (who are about 1/3 of voters in Arizona).
HB 2305 changed the base for signatures to the entire electorate, but reduced the percentage by 2/3. Republicans and Democrats have roughly 1/3 of registrants, so the net effect on number of signatures is not very much. Signature collection is still limited to voters who can vote in a primary.
Senator Gallardo apparently believed that you could get a bunch of independent signatures to put a “moderate” candidate on the primary ballot. But that is true now. The reason the Libertarians sued was to prevent a “moderate” Libertarian from being on the ballot.
Senate Floor Session Part 12 – Sine Die
Quite amusing. BTW, 6/13 was the last day of the session.