Legislature, Ducey fix candidate signature glitch

(KYMA, KECY/ AP News) - A once-a-decade re-drawing of congressional and legislative district lines led to confusion and wild swings in the number of qualifying signatures candidates.

So the Arizona legislature rushed to fix the glitch created.

Governor Doug Ducey quickly signed the measure after it passed the Senate and House unanimously, in a bill intended to correct a problem with new district maps and numbering which was compounded by a delay in adopting new maps because of late U.S. Census numbers.

The result was that many incumbents and challengers suddenly needed to collect many more signatures than they thought they needed. Some also needed far less.

Now, candidates can choose the lesser of their new district’s required signatures or the statewide average of all legislative districts.

The House waived its normal rules to immediately vote on the bill, which has an emergency clause that will make it go into effect immediately upon Senate action and the governor’s signature.