On April 13, the Arizona Senate passed HB 2177 by a vote of 20-9. This bill requires that birth certificates for presidential candidates be submitted. It must now return to the House, because when it passed the House, it concerned an entirely different subject.
Cindy Sheehan is currently on a nationwide speaking tour. There have been thought that she might run for President in 2012, perhaps as the nominee of the Socialist Party and perhaps other parties. See here for the schedule.
On August 13, the Colorado Senate passed SB 189, which moves the primary from the second Tuesday in August to the last Tuesday in June. The bill has no effect on deadlines to qualify independent candidates or minor parties. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for this news.
Colorado doesn’t have a presidential primary; instead it uses caucuses.
On April 13, Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat, vetoed HB 180. That bill ended Montana’s law allowing voters to register at the polls on election day. Thanks to Mike Fellows for this news.
The Governor vetoed 17 bills, very dramatically, as this news story shows.
On April 11, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed HB 275, the Secretary of State’s omnibus election law bill. Among other changes, it makes two ballot access improvements. It lowers the number of signatures for an independent presidential candidate from 1% of the last vote cast (6,552 signatures) to exactly 1,000 signatures. Also, it says out-of-state residents may work on an independent presidential candidate petition.
Idaho is the third state that has improved its ballot access laws for independent candidates or minor parties so far this year; the others are New Mexico and Nebraska.
The Idaho change will probably help the Green Party, which has never before placed its presidential nominee on the Idaho ballot. It seems extremely likely that the Green Party will be able to handle the new, easier independent procedure for whomever it nominates for President in 2012. The change will have no direct impact on the Libertarian or Constitution Parties, because they are already ballot-qualified parties in Idaho.
