On January 12, the New Hampshire House Election Law Committee heard testimony on HB 1264, which would improve ballot access for minor parties. The Committee will vote on the bill on January 26. It sets the petition for a ballot-qualified party at exactly 5,000 signatures. The existing requirement is 20,394 valid signatures (3% of the last gubernatorial vote). The bill also alters the vote test for a party to remain on the ballot, from 4%, to 2%, although parties that poll 2% but under 4% would nominate by convention, not primary. Alternatively, a group with 3,000 registered members would also be a qualified party.

Testifying in favor were the state chair of the Libertarian Party, and the New Hampshire COFOE (Coalition for Free & Open Elections) representative, and a group from Dartmouth College that studied the issue. The Secretary of State’s office suggested that elections officials might have trouble if there were ever as many as five qualified parties.

The Committee also heard testimony on HB 1188, a bill which slightly eases the petition for new parties. HB 1188 has the support of the Secretary of State. It changes the petition from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote to 1.5% of the number of registered voters.

On January 13, the New Hampshire House passed HB 341, which deals with the state’s presidential primary. New Hampshire law already requires the Secretary of State to schedule the presidential primary at least seven days before any other state’s presidential primary. The bill specifies that the New Hampshire presidential primary should also be at least seven days earlier than any other state’s caucus. However, the bill exempts the Iowa caucus, which traditionally is earlier than the New Hampshire presidential primary. Thanks to Tony Roza for this news.

The Wall Street Journal has this article on the San Francisco Green Party. It is puzzling that on the same day, the San Francisco Bay Guardian also ran this article on the San Francisco Green Party. The two articles are not the same, although they both emphasize that by some indicators, the party is weaker than it was in the past.