Bills have been introduced in both houses of the Illinois legislature to lower the number of signatures for the three citywide non-partisan offices in Chicago.  The bill would lower the number from 12,500 to 5,000 signatures.

The bills also lower the number of signatures needed for partisan Cook County countywide office, but only for primary candidates.  Those petitions would drop from one-half of 1% of that party’s last general election vote, to exactly 5,000 signatures.  The bills are SB 2083 by Senator Heather Sterns, and HB 3114 by Representative Kelly Cassidy.

The bills also allow a pilot program to test the idea of letting signatures be gathered electronically.

Arizona SB 1154, which moves the non-presidential primary from late August to early August, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 14.

Also, HB 2127, which moves the deadline for primary candidates to file from 90 days to 120 days before the primary, passed the House Elections Committee on February 19 and the House Rules Committee on February 20.

If both bills become law, the deadline for the petition for a newly-qualifying party would move from February of election years to December of the year before the election.

It is very easy for anyone to tell the Federal Election Commission that he or she is running for president.  A one-page form is all that is required.  So far, 558 individuals have filed the form to say they are running for President in 2020.  Here is the list, in chronological order, with the most recent filings at the top.