On February 10, the Idaho House State Affairs Committee passed HB 567. It creates an earlier petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates. The deadline is existing law is March 11, but the bill moves it to March 4. The bill has an urgency clause, so if it is signed into laws, it takes effect immediately.

The bill also moves the deadline for candidates to file in a primary from March 11 to March 4, but candidates running in primaries don’t need a petition. It is probable that the legislators are not even aware that the bill shrinks the time for independent candidates to complete their petitions.

Generally, courts have held that the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates can’t be earlier than primary day. Even the old Idaho deadline is likely unconstitutional, and it certainly violates due process to make the deadline even earlier and have the change take effect in the middle of the petitioning period. No one has ever sued over the Idaho non-presidential independent petition deadline, which has been in effect since 1995.

Bills have been introduced in each house of the Tennessee legislature to ease ballot access for new and small political parties. SB 2189 and HB 2067 would lower the petition to recognize a new party from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to .5%. They also lower the vote test from 5% to 1%.

The authors are Senator Frank Niceley (R-Strawberry Plains) and Representative Bud Hulsey (R-Kingsport).

The Tennessee party petition has existed since 1972, and has never been used. Between 1961 and 1972 it was 5% of the last gubernatorial vote, and it was used once, in 1968, by the American Party, which was running George Wallace for president that year. At the time Tennessee didn’t permit independent presidential candidates, so Wallace had to create a party in order to get on the ballot.