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Committee approves election‑law rewrite standardizing filing deadlines and capping early voting window
Summary
The House State Affairs Committee voted to send House Bill 278 to the full House with a do‑pass recommendation; the bill standardizes filing deadlines across office types and sets a maximum three‑week early‑voting window, while leaving county discretion to offer fewer weeks.
The House State Affairs Committee voted to send House Bill 278 to the full House with a do‑pass recommendation after several hours of explanation and public testimony.
Representative Brandon Mitchell, the bill sponsor, said the measure consolidates and standardizes administrative dates and deadlines used by election offices across the state, addressing inconsistent filing and early‑voting practices among counties. "We've been trying to get some dates and deadlines adjusted on the for elections to kinda help out with timing of things," Mitchell said.
Under the draft described in committee, filing for state, legislative and federal offices in even‑numbered years would be condensed to a one‑week window (the sponsor described it as the "thirteenth Monday to the twelfth Friday") followed by a one‑week withdrawal and write‑in…
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