On March 5, the Oklahoma House Rules Committee passed HB 2425. It moves the non-presidential primary from June to early March. The presidential primary would then be combined with the primary for other offices. This is a drastic change. Because the date of the non-presidential primary is tied to the deadlines for non-presidential independent candidates. The deadline for non-presidential independents (who don’t need a petition) would be close to New Year’s Day of the election year.

The bill does not change the petition deadline for new parties, which would remain February 28. New parties would have missed the primary, so they would nominate by convention, but their candidates would have needed to file a declaration of candidacy on or around January 1.