On March 11, Tennessee HB 2580 passed the House Election Campaign Finance Subcommittee on a voice vote. It now goes to the full Local Committee. It cuts the number of signatures for a new party from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote cast (currently 56,083 signatures) to one-half of 1% (11,216). It also eases the vote test, which is now 5% for any statewide race. The new vote test would be 1% for each particular office, so if a party got 1% for president, then it would be on the ballot automatically for president in the next election. Currently the only state in which the vote test for party retention is office-by-office is Connecticut.

The sponsor is Representative Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport).