The Texas House will soon vote on SB 100, which moves the primary (for all office, president and other office as well) from the first Tuesday in March, to the first Tuesday in April. The bill also moves the run-off primary to the third Tuesday in June.

If this bill is signed into law, the petition deadline for new parties, and for non-presidential independent candidates, will improve. Currently, the petition deadline for new parties is in late May, but the bill would cause that deadline to move to late June. Also, currently the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates is in early May, but it would move to late July.

A peculiarity in the bill is that the independent presidential petition would continue to be in early May. Texas already has the nation’s earliest independent presidential petition, by far. If that deadline is challenged in court in the future, it will be very difficult for Texas to explain why it needs an independent presidential petition deadline that is more than two months earlier than the petition deadline for other independent candidates. The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1983 in Anderson v Celebrezze that the Constitution requires states to have easier ballot access for presidential candidates than for candidates for other office. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for the news about SB 100.