Nebraska Senator Bill Avery has intoduced LB 1059, to allow initiative and referendum petitions to be signed electronically. Here is a copy of the bill. It has a hearing on February 10 in the Senate’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.

No state currently allows electronic signature-gathering for any type of petition for ballot access. It is already common for states to allow blank petition forms to be downloaded on a home computer, but then the signatures must be gathered the old-fashioned way.

LB 1059 does not apply to ballot access petitions for new parties or independent candidates. The bill’s sponsor, Bill Avery, is a Democrat from Lincoln. Nebraska Senators are elected on a non-partisan basis but they are usually registered members of either the Democratic or the Republican Party.

Georgia Representative Bobby Reese (R-Sugar Hill) has introduced HB 1141, which improves ballot access for candidates who petition onto the November ballot. It lowers the candidate petition for statewide office from 1% of the number of registered voters to exactly 5,000 signatures. It lowers the candidate petition for U.S. House from 5% of the number of registered voters to 5,000 signatures.

This bill is different from SB 359, which expands the ability of a qualified statewide minor party to nominate for all partisan office, not just statewide office. Thanks to Jason Pye for this news. Both bills make excellent, but separate, improvements.

The deadline to apply to serve on the California Citizens Redistricting Commission has been extended to February 16. Here is the application.