Four West Virginia Delegates have introduced HB 4477, which eases the definition of “political party.” It says that a group is a party if it polled 1% for any statewide office at either of the last two elections. Alternatively, it meets the definition if its registration is above one-tenth of 1%, which currently would be 1,218 registrants.

Currently the Mountain Party and the Libertarian Party are ballot-qualified, because they polled 1% for Governor in 2012. If this bill passed, they would both have enough registered members to remain ballot-qualified, and would not need to worry about running for any particular statewide office in the future. Currently the Constitution Party, which is not on the ballot, has 185 registered members, so it would need to increase its size in order to qualify.

The sponsors are Doug Reynolds (D-Huntington), Pat McGeehan (R-Chester), Steven Shaffer (D-Tunnelton), and Mike Folk (R-Martinsburg). Another bill to ease the definition of “party”, HB 4356, has two sponsors, McGeehan and Isaac Sponaugle. Thanks to Jeff Becker for this news.

Indiana Congressmember Todd Young is running for U.S. Senate this year. Although Indiana does not require primary candidates to submit a petition to get on the ballot for U.S. House, Indiana does require primary petitions for candidates for U.S. Senate. They need 4,500 signatures, with 500 from each U.S. House district. According to this story, Young’s primary petition has been challenged; the challengers say he only has 498 valid signatures from the First District.

The story is erroneous when it says that most states require petitions for a candidate for U.S. Senate to get on a primary ballot. Only a minority of states require primary candidates for that office to submit a petition. A majority of states rely on filing fees to keep primary ballots from being too crowded.