On March 14, the Arizona House passed HB 2304 by a vote of 51-5. Among many other election law changes, it says that when a political party gets on the ballot, it is then on the ballot for the next two elections, instead of just one election. If this bill is signed into law, the Arizona Green Party will be on the ballot in 2012.

The bill also legalizes out-of-state circulators for all types of petition. The existing law says out-of-state circulators may work on an independent presidential candidate’s petition, but no other kind of petition.

Unfortunately, the House amended the bill so that it no longer makes it easier for a member of a newly-qualifying party to get on his or her own party’s primary ballot. The existing law for that requires a petition signed by members of that party, equal to one-tenth of 1% of the vote for that same office in the last general election. The number of signatures for candidates to get on a primary of an old established party is more lenient, one-half of 1% of that party’s membership. However, the existing law also makes it very easy for a candidate to win a new party’s primary on write-in votes at that party’s primary.

The Arkansas Libertarian Party will launch a petition drive in April to qualify for the 2012 ballot as a full-fledged party. The party has virtually met its goal of raising $30,000 to pay for the petition drive, which needs 10,000 valid signatures, to be collected in any three months of the party’s own choosing.

Arkansas is the only state in which the Libertarian Party has never placed any nominees on the ballot for partisan office other than President. Arkansas has far easier procedures for parties to get on the ballot for President only, and the party has always used the president-only procedures in the past.

The Green Party of Arkansas is currently in court against Arkansas, over the law on how a party retains its place on the ballot. The law requires all parties to poll 3% for the office at the top of the ballot (President in presidential years, Governor in gubernatorial years). The case is in the 8th circuit.

On March 15, at 1:30 pm, in room 3191, the California Senate Elections Committee will hear SB 205. This bill makes it illegal for anyone to pay anyone else to register voters, if the payment is made on a per-registration card basis. The bill is authored by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), chairman of the Elections Committee.

The only feasible way for a group to become a qualified party in California is to persuade 103,004 voters to change their voter registration, so that the record lists them as members of that new party (the 103,004 figure is 1% of the number of voters who voted in November 2010). No party has used this method for getting on the ballot in the last 50 years without paying canvassers to get out on the street and persuade voters to change their registration. Experience shows that it is necessary to pay these canvassers on a per-registration basis. SB 205 provides that if the payment is made “willfully”, the person who pays must not only be fined, but sent to prison for six months.

The Senate Elections Committee will also hear SB 168 by Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) to make it illegal to pay anyone “directly or indirectly” to gather signatures on an initiative, referendum, or recall petition on a per-signature basis.