On April 7, the Oklahoma House Rules Committee passed SB 91. It requires birth certificates for presidential candidates. The bill had passed the Senate on March 14.
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On April 4, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe signed HB 1827. It moves the petition deadline for a new party from late June to early April. If this bill had been in effect in 2010, the petition deadline would not have been June 30; it would have been April 3. The bill had been introduced on March 3 and made speedy progress through the legislature.
The bill also requires newly-qualifying parties to hold their nominating conventions no later than primary day, which is mid-May in Arkansas. The motive for the bill seems to be that in 2006, 2008, and 2010, the old law had permitted the Green Party (which had to petition each of those years) to hold a nominating convention after the major party primaries were over. This made it possible for the Green Party to enter nominees in races for which the major parties had not nominated anyone. This is how the Green Party elected a state legislator in 2008 and a partisan county official in 2010.
It is likely that the new petition deadline, if challenged, would be found unconstitutional. It forces parties to collect signatures in the winter, unless they qualify in the year before the election (the petition must be completed in 90 days). The law could have provided that the party nominating convention be simultaneous, or even a little bit earlier, than the date the petition is submitted. In 1977 a U.S. District Court Judge in Arkansas invalidated the old deadline for a party petition. The judge in the 1977 case couldn’t tell if the petition deadline was in late February or late March, but he said no matter when the deadline was, it was unconstitutionally early. That case was American Party of Arkansas v Jernigan, 424 F.Supp. 943.
On April 7, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez signed SB 403, which makes some ballot access improvements: (1) it lowers the number of signatures to qualify a new party in gubernatorial years; (2) it moves the independent candidate petition deadline from early June to late June; (3) it says that the petition to create a new party is available any time.
An Arizona Senate Committee earlier this year had killed a bill, SB 1526, to require presidential candidate birth certificates. However, another bill, which has already passed the House, has been amended to also require birth certificates for presidential candidates. That bill is HB 2177, which had started out as an education bill. It seems likely to pass the House. The Arizona legislature will only be in session for a few more weeks.
Several states held non-partisan elections on April 5. Five Libertarians were elected or re-elected to local office.
Andrew Gray, the Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidate in 2010, was elected to the Topeka, Kansas city council from the 8th district. He polled 988 votes, and the incumbent, his only opponent, polled 594 votes. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for this news.
Doug Burlison was re-elected to the Springfield, Missouri city council, winning with 62.4% of the vote.
Three Illinois Libertarians were elected: Steve Hellin to a School Board, Karin Vermillion to a Library Board, and Doug Marks to the Carpentersville Trustee Board. Thanks to commenter #1 who helped expand the information in this post.