---
type: "Bill"
title: "Withdrawal of candidates."
description: "Provides that a candidate may withdraw from being a candidate not later than noon 81 days before the date of a primary election. (Under current law, a candidate wanting to withdraw must do so not later than noon 85 days before the primary election.)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/in"
legislature: "Indiana General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "HB 1267"
citation: "Indiana HB 1267 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["ELECTIONS generally"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["John Crane", "Mark Messmer", "Matt Hostettler"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 19
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2020-01-14"
last_action: "2020-03-30"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/65a40273-f3d3-4286-a1d8-ecc8fa2a1bd5"
source_url: "http://iga.in.gov/legislative/2020/bills/house/1267"
source_hash: "c77abeb5e75a26a42862f1790a88ba6af303e32cc279abcede5def6f23295dee"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-in"]
---

# Indiana HB 1267 (2020) — Withdrawal of candidates.

Provides that a candidate may withdraw from being a candidate not later than noon 81 days before the date of a primary election. (Under current law, a candidate wanting to withdraw must do so not later than noon 85 days before the primary election.)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Enrolled House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1267/versions/HB1267.04.ENRS)
2. **House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1267/versions/HB1267.03.COMS)
3. **House Bill (S)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1267/versions/HB1267.02.COMH)
4. **Introduced House Bill (H)** (committee substitute) — [source](http://in-proxy.openstates.org/2020/bills/HB1267/versions/HB1267.01.INTR)

## Votes

- HB 1267 - Messmer - 3rd Reading — **48–0** (pass) · upper
- HB 1267 - Hostettler - 3rd Reading — **97–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- John Crane — primary (person)
- Mark Messmer — primary (person)
- Matt Hostettler — primary (person)
- Bruce Borders — coauthor (person)
- Chuck Moseley — coauthor (person)
- Timothy Wesco — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2020-01-14** Authored by Representative Hostettler
- **2020-01-14** First reading: referred to Committee on Elections and Apportionment `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-01-16** Representatives Wesco, Borders, Moseley added as coauthors
- **2020-01-23** Committee report: amend do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-27** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-01-28** Senate sponsor: Senator Messmer
- **2020-01-28** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 99: yeas 97, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-01-29** Referred to the Senate
- **2020-02-13** First reading: referred to Committee on Elections `reading-1, referral-committee`
- **2020-02-17** Committee report: do pass, adopted `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-20** Second reading: ordered engrossed `reading-2`
- **2020-02-20** Senator Crane added as second sponsor
- **2020-02-24** Third reading: passed; Roll Call 228: yeas 48, nays 0 `reading-3, passage`
- **2020-02-25** Returned to the House without amendments
- **2020-03-02** Signed by the Speaker
- **2020-03-03** Signed by the President Pro Tempore
- **2020-03-18** Signed by the Governor `executive-signature`
- **2020-03-18** Signed by the President of the Senate
- **2020-03-30** Public Law 123

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/65a40273-f3d3-4286-a1d8-ecc8fa2a1bd5`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Indiana legislature records).