Maryland Delegate Jill P. Carter (D-Baltimore) has introduced HB 1301, to ease the definition of “political party.” Existing law says a party is a group that has membership of 1% of the state registration total, or which polled 1% for the office at the top of the ticket in the last election, or which submits a petition of 10,000 signatures.

The bill changes the 1% registration test to exactly 10,000 members. The bill is supremely logical. If a party has over 10,000 registered members, it seems superflous to require it to submit 10,000 signatures to show it has support from that many people. Obviously it already has the support of 10,000 voters if it has that many registered voters. The bill has a hearing in the House Ways & Means Committee on March 14, Monday, at 1 p.m.

The bill has four co-sponsors, all Democrats: Delegates Brooke Lierman, David Moon, Marice Morales, and Shane Robinson. A similar bill in the 2015 session, HB 626, did not pass. The 2015 bill had three sponsors. Thanks to Eric Blitz for this news.