Arizona State Senator Martin Quezada (D-Phoenix) has introduced SB 1057. It would change the presidential primaries from closed to semi-closed. Currently only party members may vote in a presidential primary, but the bill would let independent voters vote in any party’s presidential primary.

It is peculiar that Arizona law already lets independents vote in non-presidential primaries, but not presidential primaries. This causes confusion.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Tashjian v Republican Party of Connecticut, if the Arizona Democratic Party wanted to let independents vote in its presidential primary, it could do that, notwithstanding state law. The decision said that states must let independents vote in partisan primaries, if the party wants to let independents vote in its primaries.

Hawaii State Senator Ron Kouchi (D-Lihue), President of the Senate, has introduced SB 135. It would delete the requirement that candidate petitions include a place for all signers to put the last four digits of their Social Security Numbers.

Hawaii Representative Scott Saiki (D-Honolulu), the Speaker of the House, has introduced the same bill in the House. It is HB 167.

This bill has been introduced in past sessions, and has never passed. However, with such powerful sponsors in each House this year, it seems likely that one of the bills will pass this year.

On January 23, the Arkansas House State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee passed HB 1152. It moves the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from March 1 to May 1. However, independent candidates still would need to file a declaration of candidacy by March 1.

The bill’s author is Representative Justin Boyd (R-Fort Smith). The motivation for the bill is that the March 1 deadline was declared unconstitutional in December 2017. However, the state has been appealing this decision in the Eighth Circuit. The appeal is still pending.