On February 10, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee passed HB 567. It creates an earlier petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates. The deadline is existing law is March 11, but the bill moves it to March 4. The bill has an urgency clause, so if it is signed into laws, it takes effect immediately.

The bill also moves the deadline for candidates to file in a primary from March 11 to March 4, but candidates running in primaries don’t need a petition. It is probable that the legislators are not even aware that the bill shrinks the time for independent candidates to complete their petitions.

Generally, courts have held that the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates can’t be earlier than primary day. Even the old Idaho deadline is likely unconstitutional, and it certainly violates due process to make the deadline even earlier and have the change take effect in the middle of the petitioning period. No one has ever sued over the Idaho non-presidential independent petition deadline, which has been in effect since 1995.