On February 16, the New Hampshire House Election Law Committee passed HB 1188, after amending it to make it even better. The vote was 8-6. Now it goes to the House floor.

As amended, the bill helps independent candidates, by cutting the number of signatures for statewide office from 3,000 to 2,000, and also cutting the number of signatures for U.S. House from 1,500 to 1,000, and also reducing the number of signatures for independent candidates for the state legislature. The bill still contains the original improvement, which cuts the number of signatures for a new qualified party from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5% of the number of registered voters. Thanks to Rich Tomasso for this news.