Over a year ago, the Oklahoma House Rules Committee passed HB 2134, which lowered the number of signatures for a newly-qualifying party from 5% of the last vote cast, to exactly 5,000 signatures. The bill made no further headway.

Oklahoma has two-year legislative sessions, though, so the bill isn’t dead. On March 12, Representative Jon Echols (R-Oklahoma City) moved to amend the bill so that it would lower the number of signatures from 5% of the last vote cast, to 2.5% of the last vote cast. This suggests that the bill may move ahead soon. Echols is the Assistant Majority Whip in the House. As noted last month, the new Speaker of the House is the original sponsor of this bill. If the current law required 2.5% of the last vote cast, the 2014 requirement would be 33,372 valid signatures. But even if the bill passes this year, it is already too late for a new party to qualify in 2014. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.