On February 8, six Georgia state representatives introduced HB 949, which lowers the number of signatures needed for minor party and independent candidates somewhat. Current law requires a petition of 1% of the registered voters for statewide office, and 5% for district and county office. The bill keeps these percentages, but changes the base to the vote cast for president in the last election. The reduction would be approximately 25%.

The sponsors are: (1) Mark Hamilton (R-Cumming); (2) Rusty Kidd (I-Milledgeville); (3) Edward Lindsey (R-Brookhaven); (4) Alisha Morgan (D-Austell); (5) Jay Powell (R-Camilla); (6) Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Atlanta). This bill follows the recommendations of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Elections Advisory Commission, and the Secretary of State himself supports the bill. Thanks to Garland Favorito for this news.