West Virginia Delegate Mike Manypenny (D-Taylor) has introduced HB 3248, to change the definition of a qualified political party from a group that received 1% for Governor in the last election, to a group that received 1% of the vote for any statewide race in the last election. The bill complements a similar bill in the Senate, SB 417. Thanks to Jeff Becker for this news. The House bill does not contain any provision for a party to also be qualified if it has a certain minimum number of registered members, as the Senate bill does.

The vote test would only apply to regularly-scheduled elections, so this year’s special gubernatorial election would have no effect on party qualification. That is also the case under the existing law.

If HB 3248/SB 417 pass, the Constitution Party would be ballot-qualified, because it got 1.21% for U.S. Senate in 2010. The Mountain Party would continue to be ballot-qualified; it got 1.92% for U.S. Senate last year.

On February 21, the Maryland House Ways and Means Committee filed an unfavorable report on HB 2. This is the bill to raise Maryland’s candidate filing fees. Currently, the highest fees are $290.

On February 22, Illinois Representative Jim Watson (R-Jacksonville) introduced HB 2854. It eliminates mandatory petitioning for candidates who pay a filing fee of 1% of that office’s annual salary. It applies to all candidates, whether they are running in a partisan primary, or whether they are independent candidates, or the nominees of unqualified parties. Thanks to Christina Tobin for this news.

Currently, the only states that allow all candidates to use a filing fee instead of a petition to get on any ballot are Louisiana, Florida, and Oklahoma (and in those latter two states, independent presidential candidates can’t choose the filing fee option). However, a majority of states now make it possible for candidates to get on a partisan primary ballot with no petition, if they pay a filing fee.