The New Hampshire House Election Law Committee will hear HB 363 on February 28, Tuesday, at 11 a.m. This is the bill that moves the declaration of candidacy deadline for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties from June to July. Even presidential candidates must file such a declaration of candidacy. Moving the deadline to July would enhance the ability of candidates to enter the race at the end of spring. The declaration of candidacy requirement for presidential candidates was added in 1985. If it had been in effect earlier, it would have blocked Robert La Follette in 1924 and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912.

The bill also decouples the petition deadline from the date of the non-presidential primary. The petition deadline is in August now, and the bill wouldn’t change that, but it would guarantee that if the legislature moves the non-presidential primary from September to an earlier month, that would not affect the petition deadline.

As previously reported, New Mexico SB 180 has already passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, and may receive a Senate vote at any time. It raises the petition for the nominee of a ballot-qualified convention party from 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 2%, for almost all offices, unless the party has about 12,000 registered members.

Please e-mail the Secretary of State at secretary.state@state.nm.us. Be courteous. Tell Maggie Toulouse Oliver that SB 180, an omnibus bill written by her office, should be amended to delete any change in the number of signatures for minor party nominees.

Already, for a US Senate candidate running in 2022, New Mexico required an independent to submit a petition of 2% of the last gubernatorial vote. For the nominee of a new party, two petitions would be required; one signed by .5% of the last gubernatorial vote to qualify the party, and then another petition signed by 1% of the last gubernatorial vote for each of that party’s nominees. No matter whether one considers the independent petition, or the minor party set of petitions, that makes New Mexico one of the most severe states in the nation for ballot access for office other than president (the New Mexico presidential requirements are easier than for other office).

Furthermore, New Mexico is the only state in the nation which requires the nominee of a qualified party to submit a petition to be on the general election ballot. That law is discriminatory because it doesn’t apply to parties that nominate by primary. Also it is not sensible to require two separate petitions. Maryland once had a similar law, but the highest state court invalidated it on the sensible grounds that once a party has attained qualified status, its nominees can be deemed to have support. Maryland Green Party v Maryland State Board of Elections, 832 A 2d 214 (2003).