H88, the
Electoral Fairness Act, was passed out of the Committee On Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform on Wednesday, March 23.
However, because of an amendment having to do with filing fees, the bill must now go to the Finance Committee. Rep. Luebke is the chair, and he favors the bill, so that shouldn't be that much of a hurdle. Then we have to get the Speaker to actually allow a vote on the bill.
But we're one step closer to easing the ballot-access process quite a bit. If this bill passes the full House and Senate, it will cut by 75% the number of signatures needed to get a party on the ballot. It will also cut from 10% to 2% the number of votes for president or governor a party must obtain in order to stay on the ballot. This is great news for all third parties!
Please write your representative in the House and ask him or her to support H88, especially if he or she is on the Finance Committee.
In the meantime, however, we still need volunteers for petitioning. In case the bill doesn't pass, we've still got a long way to go--about 80,000 signatures. So if you're able, grab a pen and a few petition sheets and hit the sidewalks!