On February 16, the Oklahoma Senate Rules Committee passed SB 602. The bill moves the primary (not the presidential primary) from July to June. It also moves the deadline for a new or previously unqualified party to submit a petition from May 1 to March 1. That deadline, combined with a very high number of signatures, is almost certainly unconstitutional. All reported decisions, on the constitutionality of deadlines for new parties to qualify, that are earlier than May, have unanimously held that deadlines earlier than May are unconstitutional.

The Maryland Senate Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on March 10, at 1 pm, on SB 630. This is the bill that says a signature on a petition is valid, even if the signature is not an exact match with how the voter’s name is listed on voter registration forms.

In the last session of the California legislature, a bill was introduced to force petition circulators to wear badges, saying where they are registered to vote. That bill did not pass. Now Assemblymember Ben Hueso (D-Chula Vista) has introduced AB 651. It requires circulators to wear badges in at least 30-point type identifying who hired the circulator to collect signatures, if the circulator is indeed being paid. The bill only applies to initiative, referendum, and recall petitions, but not to petitions to place a candidate or a party on the ballot.