Ballot Access News

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) has a compilation of ballot access laws that affect presidential elections. It was revised recently. It shows the deadline for qualified parties to certify their presidential nominees in each state. The vast majority of such deadlines are in September.

However, a quick look at the NASS compilation reveals that it may not be entirely up-to-date. The entry for California says a new party needs registration of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, and it must have it by 135 days before the primary. But in 2014, the law was changed, and now requires registration of .33% of the total number of registered voters. Also the deadline is in July, a much later deadline than the old law.

I only checked the NASS chart for three states, so there may be other bits of out-of-date information.

On April 23, the Alabama Senate unanimously passed SB 324, which moves the deadline for qualified parties to certify the names of their presidential nominees from 82 to 74 days before the November election. It also moves the petition deadline for independent candidates to the same date, 74 days before the general election. The bill can be seen here. It seems to be a permanent improvement; it doesn’t say it only applies to the 2024 election.

The Federal Election Commission compiles a book every year that gives the contact information for each state’s elections office. It is the “Combined Federal/State Disclosure and Election Directory.” One can see the new version on-line at this link. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.