On February 16, the Oklahoma House Rules Committee amended the ballot access bill, HB 1058, so that it requires a new or previously unqualified party to submit a petition of exactly 22,500 valid signatures. Then the Committee passed the amended bill, 14-0. It now goes to the House floor. Thanks to Angelia O’Dell for this news.

22,500 signatures is 2.17% of the last gubernatorial vote. If this passes, and if one compares the ballot access requirements of all 50 states, and compares the easier method for getting on the November ballot for President, Oklahoma would still have the most difficult requirement in the nation. Oklahoma would still be the only state with no procedure for President that is equal to, or easier than, 2% of the last gubernatorial vote. However, the bill represents a great improvement from the existing requirement of 5% of the last vote cast. Currently, for 2012, that is 51,739 signatures.

UPDATE: the Daily Oklahoman of February 17 has this news story about the bill. Read down a few paragraphs. Thanks to Micah Gamino for the link.