On April 17, Washington Governor Jay Inslee vetoed part of SB 5518. If he had signed it, it would have inadvertently increased the difficulty for new minor parties to place presidential nominees on the November ballot. The veto would not have occurred if the Freedom Socialist Party had not noticed the problem, and persuaded the Secretary of State to ask the Governor to veto part of the bill. In Washington state, Governors can veto parts of bills; they don’t need to sign or veto the entire bill.
Existing law lets minor parties hold multiple nominating conventions at various places around the state. At least 1,000 voters must sign in as having attended one of these meetings. Meetings, to be valid, must have at least 25 attendees. Obviously it is far easier to get a total statewide attendance of 1,000, if the signatures can be collected at different places around the state. But independent presidential candidates must get all of their 1,000 signatures in one location.
SB 5518, by changing the definition of “minor political party” for campaign finance purposes, unthinkingly also changed it for ballot access purposes, so that a minor party that had not appeared on the ballot in the last presidential election would have needed to get all its signatures in one place. The Freedom Socialist Party did not place its presidential nominee on the ballot in Washington state in 2012, so if it does intend to place a presidential nominee on the Washington state ballot in 2016, it would have been adversely affected. Also adversely affected would have been any other party that comes into existence for the 2016 election. Thanks to Fred Hyde for this news.