On January 9, Alabama State Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) reintroduced the same ballot access bill he had introduced in 2013. This year, the bill is SB 70. It lowers the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties and non-presidential independent candidates from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5% of the last gubernatorial vote. It also eases the petition deadline for newly qualifying parties, from primary day, to three weeks after the run-off primary. In a presidential election year, when the first primary is in March, that would put the deadline in early May. In a midterm year, the deadline would be in early August.
typically whats driving bills like these?
The conviction of the sponsor, Senator Ward, that it is wrong to exclude minor party and independent candidates. Also the big newspapers in Birmingham and Montgomery repeatedly condemn the state’s ballot access laws for being too restrictive. And the Constitution Party is well-organized in Alabama and its activists communicate with state legislators.