The Atlanta Journal Constitution has this story about the Georgia ballot access bill.
Reply
The Utah Republican Party has filed this reply brief, in the U.S. Supreme Court, in Utah Republican Party v Cox, 18-450. The next step will be for the court clerk to set a date for the court to consider whether to hear the case. It involves the extent to which a state can control the nominations procedure for a political party.
On February 12, the New York Senate passed AB 2570, which cuts the number of signatures down to only one-fourth of the normal requirement, for 2019 primary candidates. The bill had already passed the Assembly. The rationale for the law is that it is too difficult to collect signatures in winter weather. In the last seventy years, the normal petitioning period for New York primary candidates has been in the spring. But this year, and in future years, because the primary is in June (instead of September), primary candidates are having a difficult time collecting signatures. The bill does not apply to office inside New York city because the bill’s author didn’t think that the problem exists in New York city.
Arkansas SB 276, which moves the primary for all office from May to March, was scheduled to be heard in the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Government Affairs on Tuesday, February 12. However, the bill’s sponsor did not present the bill. It may be heard in the next committee meeting on Thursday, February 14.
The bill would have the indirect effect of moving the petition deadline for new parties from January to November of the year before the election.
Steve Goodale of Newsgrowl has published this article about Arkansas SB 163, the bill to almost triple the number of signatures for a new party to get on the ballot. The bill will be voted on in the House on February 13, Wednesday.