On May 18, the Delaware House passed HB 30 by 37-4. It moves the non-presidential primary from September to the fourth Tuesday in April. That has the indirect result of moving the deadline for a new party to qualify from August to early April. There is no reason for the deadline for new parties to be advanced, because new parties, and all small qualified parties, nominate by convention, not by primary. But because the law has always linked the party qualification deadline to the date of the primary, the effect of moving the primary also moves the minor party deadline.

The bill has no effect on independent candidate petition deadlines, because they are not linked to the date of the primary. They would continue to be in July.