On February 1, the Montana House passed HB 30, which ends election-day registration. The new deadline for registration would be the Friday before the election. See this story. The vote was 60-38, which is less than two-thirds support. Assuming the bill passes the Senate, Democratic Governor Steve Bullock will probably veto the bill just as the past Governor, Democrat Brian Schweitzer, vetoed a similar bill in 2011.

On January 31, the Montana House passed HB 120 by a vote of 70-28. That is the bill that makes three ballot access improvements: (1) expanding who can run for President and Vice-President as an independent; (2) moving the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from March to May; (3) letting all qualified parties hold a primary if there is a contest for any office. HB 120 is the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill and has many other provisions unrelated to ballot access.

On February 1, U.S. District Court Judge John J. Thorp ordered that minor party candidates for U.S. House, 2nd district, should not be required to obtain more than 3,444 valid signatures to be included in the April 2013 special election. The deadline is Monday, February 4, so there is a possibility that either the Green Party nominee, LeAlan Jones, or the independent candidate, Marcus Lewis, or anyone else, might succeed in surmounting this requirement by the deadline. The case is Jones v McGuffage, 12C-9997, northern district.

Without the court order, the requirement would have been 15,682. The basis for the 3,444 figure is that Illinois only requires 5,000 signatures for U.S. House independents and unqualified parties in years after redistricting, and the judge said a special election is such an unplanned event, a special election is analogous to an election held the year after redistricting. And because normally 90 days are permitted for petitioning in Illinois, and in this special election only 62 days are allowed, 62/90ths times 5,000 equals 3,444.

A ballot access improvement bill will be introduced in Alabama on February 5. In the Senate it will be introduced by Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster); in the House by Representative Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham). This is the first time such a bill has had sponsors in both houses. In the past, ballot access reform bills have passed in the Senate, but not the House. Thanks to Joshua Cassidy for this news.