Independent presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente collected enough valid signatures to be on the Washington ballot, but he was kept off because his campaign didn’t file a notice in a newspaper a week before the petition drive started. The newspaper requirement is a hangover from the days when Washington ballot access was not based on petitions, but on attracting a minimum number of voters to a meeting. The lawsuit argues that the requirement is obsolete, especially since the state now permits “meetings” in which circulators ask open-air passersby to sign.

The case is De La Fuente v Wyman, w.d., 3:16cv-5801. It has a hearing Monday, September 26, at 3 p.m. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle, a Bush Jr. appointee.