On March 19, Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin signed HB 114. It moves the deadline for candidates for state office to file a declaration of candidacy from April 1, to the last Tuesday in January. It has an emergency clause so it takes effect immediately.

Kentucky elects all its statewide state executive officers, including Governor, in the odd years before presidential election years. The Libertarian Party has no members who had already filed a declaration of candidacy for any of those offices, so now the Libertarians can’t run for any of those offices this year, even though the party is ballot-qualified.

There are many precedents that it violates due process to make ballot access more difficult in the middle of the election year season. If any Libertarian, or any independent candidate, were to sue that this new law can’t be applied to the 2019 election, it is highly likely that the lawsuit would win. For independents and the nominees of unqualified parties, the petition itself is not due until August 2019. UPDATE: the Libertarian Party has a pair of candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, and they are likely to sue.

On March 19, the Arizona House Elections Committee passed SB 1154 by 6-4. This is the bill that moves the non-presidential primary from late August to early August. It also moves the petition for a newly-qualifying party from February of the election year to November of the year before the election.

On March 19, the California Senate Elections Committee passed SB 27. This is the bill to require presidential candidates in primaries to reveal the last five years of their income tax returns. It does not apply to write-in candidates, and California permits write-ins in presidential primaries. The vote was 3-1.