Missouri Representative Jill Schupp (D-Creve Coeur) has introduced HB 796, to correct a wording error in the state’s ballot access reform bill of 1993. The intent of the 1993 reform was to let groups circulate a petition to become recognized as a political party before that group had chosen its candidates. But due to a drafting error, the 1993 bill continued to require such groups to list candidates for presidential elector on their petition, and also to list candidates for president and vice-president on the petition, even though the group didn’t need to list any of its nominees for other office.

HB 796 corrects that error. Similar bills have been introduced in many past sessions of the legislature, but didn’t pass. No legislator ever expressed opposition to the idea of correcting the error, but many bills die in Missouri because the legislature doesn’t take the time to pay attention to them. Also, sometimes an innocuous election law bill like this one gets amended to include other, more controversial, election law bills, and then the entire bill gets defeated. Thanks to Ken Bush, who is responsible for getting this bill introduced. Bush is the talented volunteer lobbyist who got the 1993 bill passed. HB 796 has five co-sponsors.

On March 8, the Utah Senate voted down SB 176, which would have made it possible for two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. The vote was 8 to 16, with 5 Senators not voting. Thanks to Rob Latham for this news.

On March 10, the Nebraska Senate passed LB 399, which eliminates the county distribution requirement for statewide non-presidential independent candidates. The bill has no effect on the number of signatures needed, which continues to be 4,000. But it eliminates the need to collect 50 signatures from each of 31 counties. Instead, there must be 750 signatures from each of the three U.S. House districts. The new distribution requirement would permit a statewide candidate to confine his or her petitioning to just three populous counties, if the candidate wishes.

The old distribution requirement had been passed in 2007, and no one had ever completed the statewide non-presidential independent petition since then.

Pennsylvania is now the only state in the nation with a county-based distribution requirement for statewide candidate petitions. These county-based distribution requirements were declared unconstitutional in 1969 by the U.S. Supreme Court in Moore v Ogilvie. The Pennsylvania county-based distribution requirements only affect candidates seeking a place on a primary ballot. In 1979 a federal court in Pennsylvania ruled that state’s county-distribution requirement unconstitutional, but the Pennsylvania legislature responded by only repealing it for candidates for president and U.S. Senate. It continues to exist for gubernatorial candidates and candidates for statewide judicial races.

LB 399 is the first bill, improving ballot access, that has passed a legislature so far in 2011. The bill only passed because a lawsuit is challenging the law. Assuming the Governor signs LB 399, that part of the lawsuit will now be moot. Another point in the lawsuit challenges the ban on out-of-state circulators. That part of the lawsuit has a trial next month. The lawsuit is called Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09-cv-3255.