On April 21, the Arizona House passed SB 1024 by the narrow margin of 31-29. Every member of the House cast a vote. This is the bill which started out in the Senate as a bill to remove the names of presidential electors from the November ballot. Earlier this week, the bill was amended in the House to add on a provision that presidential nominees of established political parties must attach documents proving that they meet the Constitutional qualifications.
The bill says such documents are due 10 days after the national parties certify the names of the presidential nominees. But because the 2012 Democratic convention will not choose a presidential nominee until September 3, and because the federal government now requires states to mail foreign absentee ballots at least 45 days before the general election, the bill’s provisions cannot be enforced. The bill says presidential nominees who don’t submit satisfactory documents must be left off the ballot. But the ballots, at least in 2012, will already have been printed before the documents are due. The bill is now getting press attention; see this story.
The bill now returns to the Senate, to see if the Senate will accept the presidential qualifications amendment.
