On September 30, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2351, which makes it easier for a group to qualify as a party in California, and also makes it easier for an already-existing party to remain ballot-qualified. The old law required an already-existing party to either poll 2% for any statewide in a general election, or to have 103,004 registrants (1% of the November 2010 turnout). The old law required a new party to obtain either 103,004 registrants, or submit a petition signed by 1,030,040 valid signatures.
The new law requires an old party or a new party alike to have about 60,000 registrants. Also, an old party can remain ballot-qualified if one of its members polls 2% for any statewide race in a midterm year, in the primary. The new registration requirement is exactly .33% of the total state registration. Currently the state has 17,634,876 voters, so currently .33% is 58,195.
California is the only state that eased the definition of “party” during 2014. During 2013, the only state that did so was Maine, which changed from requiring a petition of 5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to having 5,000 registered members. Before that, the last time a state eased ballot access for new parties and independent candidates, relative to the amount of support required, was in 2009, when West Virginia lowered the petitions from 2% of the last vote cast, to 1%.
As a result of the new law, the two states that require support from the greatest number of supporters to get on the ballot are North Carolina (89,366 signatures) and Oklahoma (66,744).