On March 5, the Texas Secretary of State’s web page posted this updated information for presidential candidate ballot access. Independent presidential petitions can be circulating now. The petition deadline is June 29, which is the latest Texas petition deadline for independent presidential candidates since 1984. The 2012 presidential election is the first presidential election since 1984 in which every state has some means to get a presidential candidate directly onto the November ballot with a deadline that is later than June 3.

Independent presidential petitions can be signed by any voter who had not already voted in the presidential primary. Petitions circulated now can be signed by any registered voter. But after early voting starts, voters who voted in the May 29 presidential primary cannot sign the independent presidential petition. Obviously, an independent presidential candidate has an easier job if his or her petition is circulated before voters start voting in the presidential primary.

Here are the Secretary of State’s instructions for newly-qualifying parties. Like the independent petition deadline, the minor party petition deadline is June 29. The petition can be signed by any registered voter who has not voted in the May 29 primary, so, as is the case for independent candidates, it is easier to get valid signatures if the petition is circulated before people start voting in the May 29 primary.

On the evening of March 5, the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee passed HB 2379, which is the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. Among other things, it imposes a requirement that presidential primary candidates need 1,000 signatures, unless they have qualified for primary season matching funds or are already on the ballot in the presidential primaries of 20 other states. For parties which have a presidential primary but have fewer than 50,000 registered members, any registered voter can sign the 1,000-signature petition. But for parties with over 50,000 registered members, only party members may sign.

Current law lets anyone on a presidential primary ballot who applies and who certifies that he or she has an Arizona campaign committee.

The hearing in Rubin v Bowen, which had been set for March 6 in Superior Court in Alameda County (at the Oakland Courthouse) has been postponed until April 10. This is the case against the California “top-two” system (Proposition 14), filed by the Peace & Freedom Party, the Libertarian Party of California, and the Alameda County Green Party. It is the only case against any state’s top-two system that has been filed by minor parties exclusively, and which focuses on the exclusion of all but two candidates from the election itself.

This case should not be confused with the lawsuits Field v Bowen, and Chamness v Bowen, which attack two particular details of California’s top-two system: (1) no write-ins; (2) discriminatory policy on ballot labels. Chamness v Bowen is pending in the 9th circuit.