On March 15, Nebraska LB 349 passed the Government, Military Affairs, and Veterans Committee. It repeals the restriction that says no one who voted in the primary can sign a petition for an independent presidential candidate. It also moves the deadline for independent presidential petitions from late August to August 1.
If the bill passes the Senate and is signed into law, Texas will be the only state that restricts primary voters from signing any type of petition for minor parties or independent candidates.
So this bill is one step forward, and one step backward, as in it is good to get rid of the primary screenout for independent candidate petitions and allow all registered voters to sign, but it is bad to move the deadline back from August 31st to August 1st. How about get rid of the primary screenout and keep the petition deadline where it is, or better yet, move the deadline to sometime in September?
With the states needing to mail out overseas absentee ballots no later than the middle of September, it really is no longer practical for petitions to be due in September.
“Richard Winger Says:
March 20th, 2013 at 9:18 am
With the states needing to mail out overseas absentee ballots no later than the middle of September, it really is no longer practical for petitions to be due in September.”
I’d at least make it early September.