On February 20, the Arizona House passed a carelessly-written bill to make presidential primary ballot access more difficult. Currently, presidential candidates only need to file a declaration of candidacy and demonstrate that they have a committee promoting their candidacy in Arizona.
HB 2379 requires one of three methods to get a presidential candidate on a primary ballot: (1) 1,000 signatures of party members; or (2) evidence that the candidate has qualified for primary season matching funds; or (3) evidence that the candidate is on the ballot in at least 20 other states. UPDATE: if the candidate is seeking the nomination of a party with fewer than 50,000 registrants, any voter (regardless of partisan affilation) could sign.
In 2012, Arizona’s presidential primary was tied for being fifth earliest in the nation. When the Arizona presidential primary filing deadline passed, there weren’t even 20 other states that had determined which presidential primary candidates were on the ballot. Alternative (3), above, is thus utterly impractical. Also, a newly-formed party could not possibly have presidential primaries in as many as 20 states, because there are only 14 states in which it is possible for a newly-formed party (one formed in the odd year before a presidential election) to have a government-administered presidential primary.
Alternative (2), eligibility for primary season matching funds, is also not practical for a state with a primary as early as Arizona’s. When the filing deadline passed for getting on the presidential primary in Arizona, no one had yet qualified for primary season matching funds.
On February 27, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to hold action on this bill, so maybe it will be amended to make it more rational.