At least two bills have already been introduced in the Texas legislature to make ballot access more restrictive.

HB 418, introduced on December 10 by Representative Leo Berman, would require the nominees of political parties that nominate by convention to pay the same large filing fee to the government, that candidates running in primaries must pay in order to get on the primary ballot.  This bill is aimed squarely at the Libertarian and Green Parties, both of whom are currently entitled to nominate candidates by convention.

Requiring filing fees for candidates nominated in a convention does not make sense.  The purpose of a filing fee in a primary is to keep the primary ballot uncrowded, but there is no equivalent problem that needs solving in the context of a convention.  The Berman bill says that if the nominees of a convention do not pay the filing fee, they must submit the same number of signatures that an independent candidate would need.  That also does not make sense.  Parties have a freedom of association right, not to have their nominees be subject to a veto by non-members of the party.

HB 318, introduced on November 18 by Representative Roberto Alonzo, moves the primary from early March to early February.  That would have the indirect effect of moving the petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from May to April.  It would also have the effect of moving the deadline for a new party to tell the state that it intends to submit a petition, from early January of the election year, to December of the year before the election.  And it would move the petition deadline for a new party from late May to late April.

Frank Rich, columnist for the New York Times, has “The Bipartisanship Racket” in the December 19 print edition.  He examines the “No Label” organization with a critical eye.  Thanks to Eric Reinhardt for the link.

The European Union is considering a proposal to allow the initiative process.  See here for the proposal.  It would require the signatures of 1,000,000 voters.  The petition requirement also would provide that the initiative petition must have a substantial number of signatures from at least one-third of the nations in the European Union.  These minimum signature requirements from individual countries vary from 72,000 in Germany (the most populous nation in the European Union) to 4,500 signatures from each of the lowest-population nations, which are Cyprus, Estonia, Luxembourg, and Malta.

The proposal suggests that a method be found to let voters sign the petition electronically.  It also suggests a time limit of one year to gather the signatures.  It provides that after 300,000 signatures had been collected and submitted, the European Union would examine the proposal to make sure that its topic is germane to the treaty that establishes the European Union.  Thanks to Election Updates for the link.