This newspaper story explains the latest developments on determining who the board members are, on the North Carolina State Board of Elections. The Board still has staff and most of its functions are being carried out. For example, candidates have been filing to run in the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian primaries. But the Board staff has taken the position that because there are no board members, the staff doesn’t have the authority to declare that the Green Party has complied with the law on how a party becomes qualified.

Wyoming law says voters can sign only one independent candidate petition for any particular office, but gives no guidance as to which signatures count, when a voter signs for more than one candidate. HB 40, introduced by the House Corporations, Elections & Political Subdivisions Committee says that independent candidate petitions should ask the signer to record the date of signing. Then, if that voter signed for more than one, only the signature with the earlier date counts.

In 2016, many voters appear to have signed for Rocky De La Fuente, Jill Stein, and Evan McMullin. The Secretary of State counted the signature that was submitted first. Because De La Fuente and Stein submitted their petitions earlier than McMullin, McMullin was disadvantaged. Many of his otherwise valid signatures were disqualified because he didn’t submit his petition until the very last day.

Rhode Island Representative John G. Edwards (D-Portsmouth) has introduced HB 7509. It would expand the petitioning period for a petition to qualify a new party. It says such a petition may begin to circulate for a future election, on the day after the prior election. In other words, if this bill is enacted, a petition to create a party for the 2020 election could start to circulate on November 7, 2018.

Current law says the petition can’t circulate until January 1 of the election year it is intended for, but that law was declared unconstitutional several years ago in a case won by the Moderate Party.