On May 31, the Nevada Assembly passed SB 292 by a party-line vote of 26-16. It moves the petition deadline for new and previously unqualified parties from May to April. It also requires the petition to include approximately 3,500 signatures from each of the four U.S. House districts.

But the bill is still not through the legislature, because the Assembly amended the bill to delete the straight-ticket device portion of the bill. Therefore, the Senate version of the bill and the Assembly version are different, and the Senate will now be asked if it agrees with the Assembly amendment. However, May 31 is the last day of the session. The legislature will probably be in session until midnight and it is tough to know whether the bill will pass.

On May 30, the Texas legislature adjourned for the year. The controversial bill to make various voting procedures more difficult failed to pass, SB 7, only because House Democrats slipped out of the legislative chamber, so that no quorum was met. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

On May 28, the Nevada Assembly Legislative Operations and Elections Committee passed SB 292. It makes ballot access for new and previously unqualified parties more difficult. It moves the petition deadline to late April, and imposes a severe distribution requirement. The petition would need to include approximately 3,400 signatures from each of the four U.S. House districts.