On March 1, New Mexico HB 407, the omnibus election law bill that is almost 500 pages long, passed the House Judiciary Committee. It had previously passed the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee. Among other provisions, it lowers the number of signatures for independent candidates. Currently all independent candidates need a petition of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. The bill lowers the number of signatures for non-presidential independents to 2%, and lowers the independent presidential petition to match the number of signatures needed for minor party presidential candidates. That provision is somewhat puzzling, because qualified minor parties in New Mexico don’t need any signatures for their presidential nominee, although they do need signatures for their other nominees.