SB 1285 Initials JH Page 1 Municipal Oversight & Elections ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session Senate: ELEC DP 7-0-1-0 | 3 rd Read: 29-0-1-0 SB 1285: local candidates; petitions; electronic signatures Sponsor: Senator Hoffman, LD 15 Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections Overview Allows a candidate to collect up to 110% of the minimum required number of nomination petition signatures through E-Qual. History Statute requires candidates to submit a minimum number of nomination petition signatures to the appropriate filing officer at least 120 days before the election. A candidate for county precinct committeeman, for instance, must obtain a minimum of 2% of the party registration in their precinct, or 10 signatures, whichever is less (A.R.S. §§ 16-314, 16-322). Laws 2014, Chapter 45 directed the Secretary of State to establish a system to allow voters to sign nomination petitions for statewide and legislative candidates through a secure online portal. The Secretary of State subsequently implemented the E-Qual system. In 2016, the legislature passed a law that expanded, beginning in 2017, the use of E-Qual to allow candidates for local offices to collect up to the minimum number of required nomination petition signatures through the secure internet portal (A.R.S. § 16-317). Provisions 1. Increases the number of nomination petition signatures a candidate may collect through the online signature collection system from the minimum required number of signatures to up to 110% of the minimum number of required signatures. (Sec. 1) ☐ Prop 105 (45 votes) ☐ Prop 108 (40 votes) ☐ Emergency (40 votes) ☐ Fiscal Note