On May 2, the Illinois House unanimously passed HB 632. Although it does improve ballot access, it is far less favorable than the ballot access bill that had passed the Senate on March 30. HB 632 lowers the number of signatures for an independent candidate for the legislature from 10% of the last vote cast, to 5%. It also moves the petition deadline for all independent candidates from December of the year before the election, to June of the election year. Finally, it removes the primary screen-out (which was never enforceable anyway).

While these are significant improvements, the Senate Bill, SB 733, lowered all district and county office petitions from 5% to approximately one-fourth of 1% of the last vote cast. Since two different bills have passed in each house, no one can be certain which bill will pass, but odds are that the weaker House version will be the new law.

The Simi Valley, California Republican presidential debate scheduled for 8 p.m. eastern time (5 p.m. Pacific time) includes 10 candidates, not 9. Tom Tancredo is also participating. It is being broadcast on MSNBC.

On May 3, the Florida House unanimously passed HB 537, which moves the presidential primary from March, to one week after the New Hampshire primary. Since the New Hampshire primary is expected to be January 22, that would mean a January 29 date for Florida. However, New Hampshire maintains the capacity to move its primary date on very short notice.

HB 213 also eliminates vote-counting machines with no paper trail.