Virginia Delegate Jennifer McClellan (D-Richmond) has introduced HB 1667, to reduce the number of signatures for candidates running in a presidential primary from 10,000 signatures to 5,000. Currently, Virginia is the only state that requires more than 5,000 signatures for all presidential candidates running in a presidential primary. Some major party presidential candidates have had trouble getting on the ballot in Virginia’s presidential primary. For example, in 2008, Democrats Chris Dodd and Mike Gravel, and Republican Duncan Hunter, tried and failed. The requirement is considered so difficult, generally the state Democratic Party itself collects at least 5,000 signatures for all Democratic presidential candidates recognized by the party as legitimate, to help them attain 10,000.

The bill would also move the presidential primary from the second week of February, to the first week of March. Another bill, HB 1843, by Delegate Mark Cole (R-Fredericksburg) would also move the presidential primary to March, but it would not ease the signature burden.

No party, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has ever held a presidential primary in Virginia. The only other party that has been ballot-qualified in Virginia in the last forty years was the Reform Party, but it did not hold a presidential primary in Virginia in 1996, the only year it might have done so. Thanks to Josh Putnam of Frontloading HQ for this news.

Ted Glick, long-term leader of the Independent Progressive Politics Network, has this essay, “The Third Force Idea” posted at Dissident Voice.

Montana State Representative Bob Wagner (R-Madison County) has introduced HB 205. It requires candidates for President and Congress to submit a birth certificate or other proof of birth, when they file paperwork to appear on either a primary ballot, or a general election ballot, or even to file as a declared write-in candidate. The only loophole in the bill, for presidential candidates, is that someone who didn’t run in a presidential primary in Montana, but who is nominated by a ballot-qualified party, need not file the documents to appear on the ballot in November.

Members of Congress need not have been born in the United States, so the ostensible purpose of applying this bill to congressional candidates is to satisfy the U.S. Constitution’s requirements as to age. Members of the U.S. House must be 25; U.S. Senators must be 30. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

Every time the paperwork connected with filing for office is made more complicated, chances increase that something will go wrong, and otherwise qualified candidates will be disqualified for inadvertent errors.