West Virginia Delegate Pat McGeehan (R-Chester) has introduced HB 2102, to ease ballot access for political parties. Current law requires a group or a party to poll 1% for Governor, in order to become or maintain itself as a qualified party. The bill would change that vote test to 1% for any state statewide office. Also, it would enable a group or a party to be a qualified party if it had registration of at least 5,000 members. This would make it possible for groups to become qualified parties in advance of any particular election.

In November 2016, the Libertarian Party had 4,679 registered members; the Green Party (which is called the Mountain Party in West Virginia) had 1,875. Both are currently qualified because both polled over 1% for Governor in 2016. West Virginia elects all its statewide state offices in presidential years.

Utah Representative Brian Greene has amended HB 22, a bill to regulate petitioning for primary candidates. Unlike an earlier version of the bill, it no longer requires circulators to be registered voters, and it no longer bans paying circulators. The amended bill does makes it illegal to pay circulators on a per-signature basis. The amended bill also requires the circulator to wear clothing or signs to explain the purpose of the petition and to identify the political party involved. And it says persons who have been convicted of crimes of moral turpitude may not circulate primary petitions. Here is the amended bill.

UPDATE: see this story about why the bill was amended.

According to this story, Cheri Honkala, the Green Party nominee for State Representative in the upcoming special election, Pennsylvania district 197, missed the deadline to file by one day. Because the Green Party polled over 2% of the winning candidate’s vote total in 2016, the law does not require a petition for a Green Party nominee in special elections, so the deadline only concerned a declaration of candidacy.

The story also says she has raised $30,000 for her race. Also see this story.