The New Hampshire House Election Law Committee will hear HB 363 on February 28, Tuesday, at 11 a.m. This is the bill that moves the declaration of candidacy deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from June to July. Even presidential candidates must file such a declaration of candidacy. Moving the deadline to July would enhance the ability of candidates to enter the race at the end of spring. The declaration of candidacy requirement for presidential candidates was added in 1985. If it had been in effect earlier, it would have blocked Robert La Follette in 1924 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

The bill also decouples the petition deadline from the date of the non-presidential primary. The petition deadline is in August now, and the bill wouldn’t change that, but it would guarantee that if the legislature moves the non-presidential primary from September to an earlier month, that would not affect the petition deadline.