Oklahoma State Senator Eddie Fields (R-Wynona) has introduced SB 145, which would give independent presidential candidates the option of paying a fee to get on the November ballot, instead of a petition. The bill also lowers the petition to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, which is considerably lower than 3% of the last presidential vote.

The amount of the fee is somewhat ambiguous. The bill says the fee would be $2,500 for each candidate for presidential elector. Oklahoma has seven electoral votes. Seven multiplied by $2,500 equals $17,500. However, neither the bill, nor existing law, says that independent presidential candidates must file a full slate of electors. The law implies there should be a least two, because it talks about a “slate” of presidential elector candidates, which implies more than one. If two electors were named by the independent presidential candidate, than the fee would be $5,000.

The bill also abolishes the existing law that lets an unqualified party put a presidential candidate on the ballot, with the party label. That aspect of the bill seems unwise, because then there would be no way for an unqualified party to place a presidential candidate unless it qualified as a full party, and that petition is due the first week in March, which is probably unconstitutionally early, at least for presidential candidates.

The State Board of Elections backs this bill.

Also, on January 12, Jill Stein and Rocky De La Fuente filed a notice of appeal in De La Fuente v Ziriax, in their case that challenges the existing procedure for an independent presidential candidate, or the presidential nominee of an unqualified party, to get on the ballot. The case is based mostly on the fact that Oklahoma already lets independent candidates for other office get on the ballot with just a filing fee and no petition, yet won’t extend this option to independent presidential candidates. The bill seems designed to settle the issue raised in the lawsuit. The case number in the Tenth Circuit is 17-6010.

There are probably other ballot access bills about to be introduced into the Oklahoma legislature.

On January 5, Nebraska Senator John Murante (R-Gretna) again introduced his bill to provide that Nebraska choose all its presidential electors with an at-large vote. This year his proposal is LB 25. He has tried several times in the past to pass this bill, which would end the system in which each U.S. House district elects its own presidential elector.

On January 11, the Kansas House Elections Committee passed HB 2017, although the bill was amended so it isn’t as favorable as originally introduced. Currently Kansas has no procedure for a qualified minor party to nominate anyone in special U.S. House elections, and requires approximately 14,000 signatures for an independent.

The bill provides that all qualified parties may nominate a candidate. It also changes the independent candidate petition to exactly 3,000. The original bill set it at 1,000. If the bill passes, it takes effect immediately. Kansas is likely to have a special U.S. House election in the spring of 2017, because one of the state’s House members will probably join the cabinet, leaving his seat empty. Thanks to Mark Johnson for this news.