The Arizona Secretary of State has submitted proposed election law changes to the legislature, including changes concerning the two issues won by Ralph Nader in the 9th circuit last year. The Secretary of State asks the legislature to move the independent presidential candidate petition deadline to only 60 days before the general election, but only for independent presidential candidates. Independent candidates for other office would still need to submit their signatures by early June.

Also, the Secretary of State proposed that only independent presidential petition drives be allowed to use out-of-state circulators. Independent candidates for office other than president, and initiatives, would still be required to use only in-state circulators. Since the state’s entire defense of the residency requirement was that out-of-staters cannot be located if they commit fraud, the Secretary of State’s proposal seems inconsistent. For independent presidential petitions, the proposed amendment says that out-of-staters must register with the Secretary of State before starting work.

On May 26, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed SB 800, which lets people who plan to circulate an initiative submit a description of their initiative for public scrutiny before they gather the signatures. Anyone who wishes to challenge the initiative’s subject matter, or the description of the initiative that will appear on the petition, must challenge early in the process.

Still pending on the Governor’s desk is HB 2246, which expands the period for collecting signatures for initiatives from 90 days to one year.