as of 6:30 pm Pacific time, the webpage http://thirdpartywatch.com has not been on-line for 8 hours. One who goes there gets the message “Internal Server Error”. Anyone with knowledge about the status of Third Party Watch, please comment.
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On February 19, the Montana Senate Administration Committee table SB 474, which would have required all presidential candidates to submit a copy of a birth certificate, in order to be on either the primary or general election ballot, or even to qualify as a declared write-in candidate. The bill was by Senator Aubyn Curtiss (R-Fortine).
The Oregon House Rules Committee will hold a hearing on HB 2580 on February 23. This is the bill to make it possible for two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate. Thanks to Dan Meek for the news.
California Assemblymember Lori Saldana (D-San Diego) has introduced AB 6, to require initiative circulators to register as lobbyists. Registering as a lobbyist involves filling out financial disclosure forms with the Secretary of State 4 times per year, and a $25 fee to register. Registration expires every two years and must be renewed.
The bill seems absurd on its face. Initiative circulators are not lobbyists.
On February 19, Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe, a Democrat, signed HB 1246 into law. It expands the petitioning period for petitions to qualify a party, from 60 days of the group’s choice, to 90 days. The number of signatures remains the same, 10,000. The bill also expands the petitioning period for all non-presidential independent candidate petitions from 60 days to 90 days (the independent presidential petition has never had a limit on how long it can take to circulate, or how early it can start).