On May 2, the Alabama House Constitution, Campaigns & Elections Committee held a hearing on SB 15, the bill that eases the number of signatures for independent candidates (for office other than President) and newly-qualifying parties. The bill also moves the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties from March to May.

The Alabama Secetary of State’s office sent a representative to oppose the part of the bill that moves the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties from March to May. Also, the Probate Judges Association sent a representative to oppose the part of the bill that cuts the number of signatures for independent candidates. Probate Judges are elected in Alabama on a partisan basis, and presumably all of them are major party members, and they dislike increased competition. However, the bill does not lower the number of signatures for independent candidates for county office, just federal and state office.

The Committee sent the bill to a Subcommittee on Campaigns and Elections, headed by Representative Paul DeMarco. His staff is researching how Alabama ballot access laws compare with the laws of other states. For Presidential elections, for procedures that allow a party label, Alabama requires more signatures than any other state except California, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas. The requirement in Alabama is 44,829 this year, if a party label is to be allowed. It is possible the North Carolina legislature will lower the requirement this month.

On July 24, the Sixth Circuit will hear Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, the case in which the Libertarian Party had won injunctive relief against Ohio’s February 2012 petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties.

The Secretary of State did not appeal, but the Ohio legislature then intervened in the case so that it could appeal. The hearing will be at 1:30 p.m. in Cincinnati. The appeal is peculiar, because after the Ohio Libertarian Party won injunctive relief against the February 2012 deadline, the deadline reverted back to November 2011. One wonders why the legislature is bothering to appeal an injunction when the law at issue doesn’t even exist any longer.

In 2006 the Sixth Circuit had ruled that a deadline of November of the year before the election is unconstitutional. The current Ohio law still has that deadline, in effect. SB 295, which cancels the referendum on the 2011 omnibus election law bill, passed the House informally on April 25 and will probably pass the House formally when the House returns on May 8.

On May 24, U.S. District Court Judge William K. Watkins will hold a hearing in Stein v Chapman, the ballot access case that challenge’s Alabama’s March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties to get on the ballot. The hearing is at 2 p.m. in Courtroom 2-E in Montgomery’s federal courthouse.