MONTANA SUPREME COURT REMOVES GREEN PARTY FROM BALLOT FIVE MONTHS AFTER IT QUALIFIED

On August 7, a Montana lower state court removed the Green Party from the ballot, even though its party petition had been submitted in March and the Secretary of State had determined that it had enough valid signatures.

After the Secretary of State put the party on the ballot, the Democratic Party obtained copies of the petition, and began knocking on the doors of people who had signed, asking them to remove their signatures. Approximately 600 people signed a document removing their signatures. The party then submitted these withdrawals to the Secretary of State and asked him to revoke the party’s qualified status, even though the Secretary of State had already conducted a primary for the party (on June 2), and some Greens had been nominated for congress and state office.

The Secretary of State accepted some of the withdrawals, but he wouldn’t accept those signed after the primary was over, and he wouldn’t accept them unless they were signed with pen and ink. Some of the withdrawals were electronic.

The Democratic Party then sued the Secretary of State and won the case. The state courts ruled that the withdrawals were valid even if they were as late as August and even if they were electronic messages. Ironically, signatures on the party petition itself cannot be electronic.

There is no law that authorizes anyone to remove his or her signature from a petition to put a party on the ballot. Thus, obviously, there was nothing in the law on how late such withdrawals could be made. The state courts noted that there is a law authorizing signers to withdraw their signatures from initiative petitions, and created a "law" relating to withdrawals from party petitions by analogy to the initiative method.

But even the initiative withdrawal system said withdrawals could not be made after "final action" had been taken. The Secretary of State argued that for minor parties, "final action" meant the date of the party’s primary. But the state courts disagreed and said "final action" means the general election ballot-printing deadline.

The Green Party was not a party to the state court lawsuit and thus had no ability to argue in its own defense.

The Secretary of State appealed to the Montana Supreme Court, but on August 19 that court said the lower state court was correct. The vote was 5-2. The Montana Supreme Court did not explain its decision, but said that it would do so later. On August 24, the Secretary of State asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the State Supreme Court, but the very next day, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan (who handles appeals from states in the Ninth Circuit) denied any relief, without even referring the matter to the other U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

Legal observers felt the U.S. Supreme Court action was because the Secretary of State’s brief was flawed. Whereas the Secretary of State’s arguments in the state courts had been about statutory interpretation, the Secretary of State’s U.S. Supreme Court brief had talked about the First Amendment rights of the party and its nominees. But it is improper for briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court to raise new points that had not been argued in the lower courts.

Green Party Tries to Defend Itself

On August 11, two of the winners of the Green Party primary filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that their rights had been violated when they were removed from the November ballot. Davis v Stapleton, 6:20cv-62.

U.S. District Court Judge Dana L. Christensen, an Obama appointee, refused to give any relief, saying he would defer to the state court, even though the issues were different. He also wrote, if the Green Party was on the ballot, "the Democratic Party and its voters may see votes to Democratic candidates siphoned by seemingly progressive candidates who would not be on the ballot but for the efforts of the Montana G.O.P."

This was a reference to the fact that the Republican Party had paid the costs of the petition drive. But there is nothing illegal about a major party helping a minor party to get on the ballot. In 2004, the Michigan Republian Party had paid the circulators for independent candidate Ralph Nader to get on the ballot, but the Michigan state courts had said that is not illegal. Deleeuw v State Board of Canvassers, 688 NW 2d 847.

The Green Party nominees then appealed to the Ninth Circuit, where the case is pending. 20-35734. On August 27, Howie Hawkins and the Montana Green Party asked to intervene in the lawsuit, but the Democratic Party objected. The Ninth Circuit has not yet said if it will let Hawkins and the Green Party intervene in the lawsuit.

The party petition requires 5,000 signatures, and 13,000 voters signed it. The only reason the 600 withdrawals were enough to spoil the petition is that Montana requires between 55 and 150 signatures from each of 34 state house districts. Democrats had concentrated their withdrawl efforts in a handful of districts.

In the end, the party only had enough signatures in 33 districts, and was four signatures short in the 34^th district.

The Montana distribution requirement is itself unconstitutional, under the U.S. Supreme Court precedent Moore v Ogilvie, and the Green Party has another lawsuit, filed in 2018, pending in the Ninth Circuit against the distribution requirement. The Democrats had also sued to remove the Green Party from the 2018 ballot, so two elections in a row now, the unconstitutional distribution requirement has been fatal to the party’s ballot status.

Since the last B.A.N., minor party ballot lawsuits won in four states:

Illlinois: on August 20, the Seventh Circuit issued a six-page order in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Cadigan, 20-1961, refusing to disturb the ballot access relief won in U.S. District Court in April. The U.S. District Court had cut the number of signatures down to 10% of the normal requirement, due to the health crisis. The Seventh Circuit wrote, "The Board of Elections devotes not a word to addressing the harm this (reversing the relief) would cause to candidates and parties who have relied on the agreed preliminary injunction order." The order does not identify which three judges issued it.

New Hampshire: on July 28, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph LaPlante, a Bush Jr. appointee, granted ballot access relief due to the health crisis. He cut the number of signatures down to 65% of normal, so that the statewide independent petition, and petition for the nominees of unqualified parties, became 1,950 signatures. The old requirement was 3,000. Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Sununu, 1:20cv-688. The Libertarian Party was the only party or candidate in New Hampshire to take advantage of this ruling.

This is the first time in history that New Hampshire government had lost a constitutional ballot access case filed by a minor party or independent candidate. It had also been the only state never to have lost such a lawsuit.

New Mexico: on August 14, U.S. District Court Judge James O. Browning, a Bush Jr. appointee, issued an injunction requiring the Secretary of State to obtain an accurate count of how many write-ins had been received by Stephen Curtis in the Libertarian primary held on June 2. He is running for a statewide partisan judicial race, and because his name was not on the Libertarian primary ballot, he needed 230 write-ins to be nominated. It was crucial to the party that he qualify, because he has a good chance of polling 5% in November, and that will keep the party’s major party status. The official canvass said he only received 206 write-ins, but the evidence showed the official canvass had gross errors. After the ruling, the Secretary of State did more research and determined that Curtis did qualify.

District of Columbia: on August 13, the Mayor signed bill B23-0864 into law. It cut the number of signatures for presidential independents, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from approximately 5,000 signatures, to exactly 250 signatures, for 2020 only. This bill only passed because the Party for Socialism and Liberation had filed a federal lawsuit, La Riva v D.C. Board of Elections, 1:20cv-1937. The lawsuit was based on the health crisis, and also the fact that the D.C. requirement (for 2020 only) had been lowered to 250 signatures for all the other districtwide partisan races, but not President. The Board of Elections decided not to fight the lawsuit but instead to settle it by lowering the presidential requirement. This is the first ballot access lawsuit that the Party for Socialism and Liberation had ever won. The only two candidates who took advantage of the new lower requirement are La Riva and independent Brock Pierce.

On August 24, the California legislature passed SB 970, moving the primary date in midterm years from March to June. The Governor is expected to sign it. The motive is fear that the census 2020 data will be late, making redistricting late.

On August 24, a loser state court said the Republican Party’s referendum petition to block ranked choice voting for President does have enough valid signatures. Therefore, the state cannot use RCV for president in November 2020. On August 28 the Secretary of State appealed to the State Supreme Court. When a referendum petition has enough signatures, the challenged law is suspended until the voters vote on whether to approve that law. Without the referendum petition, Maine would have been the first state in history to use RCV for president in a general election.

On August 14, in an entirely different Maine lawsuit, U.S. District Court Judge Lance E. Walker, a Trump appointee, upheld the constitutionality of ranked choice voting. Hagopian v Dunlap, 1:20cv-257. This had been another Republican Party attempt to stop RCV.

Other than the Green Party Montana case described on page one, other lawsuits are also pending on whether certain presidential candidates should be on the ballot:

Ohio: Kanye west sued on August 26 over the decision to reject his petition because the photocopy of his declaration of candidacy printed on each petition sheet doesn’t perfectly match the original declaration. State ex rel West v LaRose, State Supreme Court, 2020-1044.

Pennsylvania: Democrats challenged the Howie Hawkins Green Party petition, which means a state trial court adjudicates the matter.

Wisconsin: both Howie Hawkins and Kanye West are in state court. Hawkins’ petition was rejected because his vice-presidential running mate moved, and her old address is on some petitions and her new address is on others. West is suing because his petition was submitted 14 seconds too late.

Last year, the Democratic Party sued six states over laws on the order of candidates on the ballot. In all six states, without judicial relief, the Republican Party nominees will have the top spot in 2020. All of these cases have failed to win in time for 2020, although they still might win after the election is over.

Arizona: on July 22, the Ninth Circuit refused injunctive relief to the Democratic Party. Mecinas v Hobbs, 20-16301. The three judges were Sidney Thomas, Mary Schroeder, and Consuelo Callahan. The U.S. District Court had said the plaintiffs lack standing.

Florida: the Democrats had lost in the Eleventh Circuit on April 29. They asked for rehearing, and that is still pending, but clearly they can’t get relief this year. Jacobson v Lee,19-14552.

Georgia: on August 13, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg, an Obama appointee, said the case is flawed, but she gave the party a chance to file an amended complaint. S.P.S. ex rel Short v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:19cv-4960.

Minnesota: on August 7, the Eighth Circuit stayed the U.S. District Court order that had given the Democrats relief. Pavek v Simon, 20-2410. The three judges were James B. Loken (Bush Sr. appointee); Bobby Shepherd (Bush Jr.); and L. Steven Grasz (Trump).

Texas: on July 10, U.S. District Court Lee Yeakel, a Bush Jr. appointee, said that federal courts have no jurisdiction in ballot order lawsuits and that this is a "political question". In fifty years of federal decisions on ballot order, no court had ever come to that conclusion. The judge based his decision on the U.S. Supreme Court decision Rucho v Common Cause, the 2019 decision that said there are no objectively fair ways to solve partisan gerrymandering.

But there are obvious fair ways to solve ballot order. Either rotate the names of candidates from precinct to precinct, or else hold a lottery to decide ballot order. One-third of the states use one of these. The party asked for rehearing, but it was denied on August 19.

West Virginia: on August 10, U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Chambers, a Clinton appointee, enjoined the law that said the winner of the presidential election gets the top spot, and told the state to create a fair system. But on August 18 the Fourth Circuit stayed that order. Nelson v Warner, 20-1860. The three Fourth Circuit judges are Stephanie Thacker and James Wynn (Obama appointees), and Julius Richardson (Trump).

Alabama: on August 5, U.S. District Court Judge Emily C. Marks, a Trump appointee, upheld the law that says the qualified parties get a free list of registered voters, but unqualified parties must pay about $36,000 for the list. Libertarian Party of Alabama v Merrill, m.d., 2:19cv-69. No third party has been ballot-qualified in Alabama since 2002. The judge said the state "has a proprietary interest in receiving compensation." The decision contradicts an on-point summary affirmance of the U.S. Supreme Court. Judge Marks said that precedent is not on-point, but she did not say why, and she is wrong; it is on-point.

North Carolina: on August 3, the Fourth Circuit refused to rehear Buscemi v Bell, 19-2355. The main issue is the March 3 petition deadline for independent presidential candidates. This will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Washington: on August 27, a state trial court ruled that if a voter signs more than one presidential petition, the signature doesn’t count on any petition. As a result, the Constitution, Alliance, and American Solidarity presidential candidates won’t be on the ballot.

Two billionaires have been funding initiatives to eliminate the ability of parties to nominate candidates, and to limit the number of candidates on the general election ballot, to either two or four. Four such initiatives turned in enough signatures to be on ballots. However, in the last week of August, the North Dakota and Arkansas top-four initiatives were removed by State Supreme Courts. Both petitions had technical flaws. Both would have made it more difficult for minor parties to qualify for party status, or to remain qualified.

The two anti-political party initiatives that did get on the ballot are in Florida and Alaska.

On August 17, the Texas Democratic Party sued the Texas Green Party to force it to disqualify all their congressional and state office candidates who had not paid the filing fee. The candidates had not paid the filing fee because earlier, a state court had ruled the filing fee law unconstitutional (it was only passed in 2019), but then another court had stayed that order but had not made a decision on the merits. On August 19, the Greens were removed, although the presidential candidate was not removed because there is no filing fee for president in the general election.

On August 21, the National Republican Congressional Committee filed a lawsuit in state court to remove the Libertarian congressional candidates who had not paid the filing fee. And the Texas House Republican Caucus PAC filed a similar lawsuit to remove the Libertarians running for state office who had not paid the fee. On August 25, that court, the State Court of Appeals, rejected the Republican lawsuits 2-1 on the grounds that the Republicans had filed their case too late. The Republicans then appealed to the State Supreme Court, where the matter is pending.

This chart, concerning minor parties in California top-two primaries, shows (in conjunction with several earlier charts from past issues) that no minor party has ever managed to qualify for the California general election ballot if he or she had opponents from both major parties on the primary ballot. This evidence will be relevant when California minor parties sue to overturn top-two.

DATE	CANDIDATE	PARTY	OFFICE	RANK	VOTE %
4/4/2017	Kenneth Mejia	Green	U.S. House 34	7th of 23	4.6%
4/4/2017	Angela E. McArdle	Libertarian	U.S. House 34	18th of 23	.8%
6/5/2018	Gloria E. La Riva	Peace & Freedom	Governor	12th of 27	.3%
6/5/2018	Josh Jones	Green	Governor	14th of 27	.2%
6/5/2018	Zoltan Istvan	Libertarian	Governor	15th of 27	.2%
6/5/2018	Nickolas Wildstar	Libertarian	Governor	17th of 27	.2%
6/5/2018	Christopher N. Carlson	Green	Governor	23rd of 27	.1%
6/5/2018	Tim Ferreira	Libertarian	Lieutenant Governor	9th of 11	1.5%
6/5/2018	Gail K. Lightfoot	Libertarian	Secretary of State	5th of 8	2.4%
6/5/2018	Michael Feinstein	Green	Secretary of State	6th of 8	2.1%
6/5/2018	C. T. Weber	Peace & Freedom	Secretary of State	7th of 8	.9%
6/5/2018	Erik Rydberg	Green	Secretary of State	8th of 8	.7%
6/5/2018	Kevin Akin	Peace & Freedom	Treasurer	5th of 5	2.3%
6/5/2018	Derrick Michael Reid	Libertarian	U.S. Senate	15th of 32	.9%
6/5/2018	John Thompson Parker	Peace & Freedom	U.S. Senate	24th of 32	.3%
6/5/2018	Robert "Chris" Richardson	Green	U.S. House 7	4th of 5	1.9%
6/5/2018	Mike A. Tsarnas	American Independent	U.S. House 9	3rd of 3	5.7%
6/5/2018	Barry Hermanson	Green	U.S. House 12	6th of 7	1.4%
6/5/2018	Kennita Watson	Libertarian	U.S. House 17	5th of 5	2.6%
6/5/2018	Bill Merryman	Libertarian	U.S. House 22	6th of 6	.9%
6/5/2018	Angelica Maria Duenas	Green	U.S. House 29	54th of 5	6.4%
6/5/2018	Ted M. Alemayhu	American Independent	U.S. House 39	17th of 17	.1%
6/5/2018	Sophia J. Alexander	American Independent	U.S. House 29	16th of 17	.4%
6/5/2018	Miguel Angel Zuniga	Green	U.S. House 43	5th of 5	2.3%
6/5/2018	Brandon Reiser	Libertarian	U.S. House 48	14th of 16	.6%
6/5/2018	Joshua L. Hancock	Libertarian	U.S. House 49	15th of 16	.3%
6/5/2018	Danielle St. John	Green	U.S. House 49	14th of 16	..4%
6/5/2018	Ali Sarsak	Libertarian	State Senate 10	3rd of 3	4.5%
6/5/2018	Antonio Salguero	Libertarian	State Senate 38	3rd of 3	2.8%
6/5/2018	Janice Marlae Bonser	Libertarian	Assembly 8	3rd of 4	3.0%
6/5/2018	Bridget Duffy	Green	Assembly 22	3rd of 3	3.8%
6/5/2018	Bob Goodwyn	Libertarian	Assembly 24	3rd of 3	3.6%
6/5/2018	Robert Imhoff	Libertarian	Assembly 25	4th of 4	3.0%
6/5/2018	Carol A. Bouldin	Green	Assembly 42	5th of 5	3.4%
6/5/2018	Ben W. Gibbins	Libertarian	Assembly 52	4th of 4	2.7%
3/26/2019	Cesar Flores	Green	State Senate 33	12th of 12	1.5%
3/3/2020	Melissa Bradley	Green	U.S. House 2	4th of 5	4.6%
3/3/2020	Charles "Wally" Coppock	American Independent	U.S. House 2	5th of 5	1.3%
3/3/2020	Chris Richardson	Green	U.S. House 7	5th of 5	2.3%
3/3/2020	Michael Ernest Kerr	Green	U.S. House 11	3rd of 3	7.4%
3/3/2020	Joe Dehn	Libertarian	U.S. House 17	4th of 4	2.2%
3/3/2020	Bob Goodwyn	Libertarian	U.S. House 18	5th of 5	1.9%
3/3/2020	Rodolfo Cortes Barragan	Green	U.S. House 40	5th of 6	7.3%
3/3/2020	Michael Donnell Graham	American Independent	U.S. House 40	6th of 6	2.6%
3/3/2020	Richard Mata	American Independent	U.S. House 48	4th of 6	2.7%
3/3/2020	Jose Cortes	Peace & Freedom	U.S. House 50	7th of 10	.9%
3/3/2020	John H. Webster	Libertarian	State Senate 13	7th of 7	2.1%
3/3/2020	Cassandra Devereaux	Peace & Freedom	Assembly 14	3rd of 3	8.2%
3/3/2020	Kennita Watson	Libertarian	Assembly 24	3rd of 3	4.6%

This chart lists all minor party members who ran in California top-two elections for federal and state office, and in which the minor party candidate had a Democratic and a Republican opponent on the ballot, for the period July 2016 through now. This chart updates similar charts in three older issues of B.A.N. (June 1, 2013, July 1, 2014, and October 1, 2016). This chart, and the three earlier charts, show that no California minor party candidate with both a Democratic and a Republican opponent on the ballot has ever placed first or second in a California top-two primary. If a new constitutional lawsuit is filed against the California top-two system, this data will be useful.

Jo Jorgensen is on in all jurisdictions (except that Rhode Island is still petitioning) so she is not on this chart.

STATE	REQUIREMENTS		SIGNATURES COLLECTED
	Full Party	Cand.	Hawkins	Blanken	Rocky	Pierce	LaRiva	Kanye
Alabama	51,588	5,000	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Alaska	(reg) 8,358	#3,212	unsettled	already on	already on	already on	too late	too late
Arizona	31,686	37,769	0	too late	too late	0	too late	50,000
Arkansas	10,000	#1,000	already on	already on	already on	already on	already on	already on
California	(reg) *68,672	196,964	already on	too late	already on	too late	already on	too late
Colorado	(reg) 1,000	#pay $1000	already on	already on	already on	already on	already on	already on
Connecticut	no procedure	#7,500	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Delaware	(reg) 720	7,118	already on	too late	unsettled	too late	too late	too late
D.C.	no procedure	*250	already on	too late	too late	already on	already on	too late
Florida	get FEC recog.	132,781	already on	already on	already on	possible	too late	too late
Georgia	64,354	#5,250	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Hawaii	757	#4,347	already on	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late
Idaho	13,809	1,000	too late	already on	already on	already on	too late	already on
Illinois	no procedure	#*2,500	already on	too late	too late	too late	already on	too late
Indiana	no procedure	#44,935	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	already on	already on	already on	already on	too late	already on
Kansas	16,714	5,000	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Kentucky	no procedure	#5,000	7,500	0	8,000	6,000	0	8,500
Louisiana	(reg.) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	unsettled	already on	already on	already on
Maine	(reg) 5,000	#4,000	already on	too late	already on	too late	too late	too late
Maryland	5,000	5,000	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Mass.	(reg) 45,814	#10,000	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Michigan	42,506	12,000	already on	already on	already on	too late	too late	too late
Minnesota	129,365	#2,000	already on	too late	already on	already on	already on	already on
Mississippi	be organized	#1,000	already on	already on	2,,000	2,000	too late	2,200
Missouri	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late
Montana	5,000	#5,000	in court	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Nebraska	6,980	2,500	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Nevada	9,608	9,608	too late	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late
New Hamp.	17,209	#*1,950	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
New Jersey	no procedure	#800	already on	already on	already on	too late	already on	too late
New Mexico	3,483	3,483	already on	too late	too late	too late	already on	too late
New York	no procedure	#30,000	already on	too late	too late	already on	too late	too late
No. Carolina	11,778	*70,666	already on	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late
North Dakota	7,000	#4,000	*5,000	0	4,000	*3,500	0	3,000
Ohio	44,296	5,000	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late	in court
Oklahoma	35,592	pay $35000	too late	too late	too late	already on	too late	already on
Oregon	27,960	17,893	already on	too late	too late	already on	too late	too late
Penn.	no procedure	5,000	in court	too late	too late	already on	too late	too late
Rhode Island	18,758	#1,000	1,400	too late	900	*1,200	1,500	too late
So. Carolina	10,000	10,000	already on	unsettled	already on	too late	too late	too late
South Dakota	3,393	3,393	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Tennessee	56,083	275	finished	finished	already on	finished	finished	already on
Texas	83,435	79,939	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Utah	2,000	1,000	already on	already on	too late	already on	already on	already on
Vermont	be organized	#0	already on	already on	already on	already on	already on	already on
Virginia	no procedure	#2,500	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late	already on
Washington	no procedure	#1,000	already on	too late	too late	too late	already on	too late
West Va.	no procedure	#7,145	already on	too late	too late	too late	too late	too late
Wisconsin	10,000	#2,000	in court	already on	too late	too late	too late	in court
Wyoming	4,018	4,018	too late	already on	too late	finished	too late	too late
STATES ON SO FAR			31	18	14	14	12	11

Jo Jorgensen is on in all jurisdictions (except that Rhode Island is still petitioning) so she is not on this chart.

The 2020 presidential petitioning chart has been expanded to include the six minor party and independent presidential candidates on the most ballots (except that Jorgensen is omitted). Note that the number of states in which the listed candidates are on the ballot is not final. The chart shows how many they are on, as of this issue’s printing. "Finished" means the petition has been submitted, but the state hasn’t finished checking the petition.

"Hawkins" = Howie Hawkins, the Green nominee. "Blanken" = Don Blankenship, Constitution nominee. "Rocky" = Rocky De La Fuente, Alliance nominee. "Pierce" = independent candidate Brock Pierce. "La Riva" = Gloria La Riva, Socialism & Liberation. "Kanye" = Kanye West, independent candidate.

The chart shows that some things are not settled. The party officers of the Green Party of Alaska and the Constitution Party of South Carolina are still deciding whether to certify the national nominees of their own parties. The Delaware Elections Commission has not decided whether Rocky De La Fuente should be excused for being a day late with his presidential elector paperwork.

"Finished" means petition submitted but not yet checked.

The Libertarian Party has managed to place its presidential nominee, Jo Jorgensen, on the ballot of all 51 jurisdictions, except that its Rhode Island petition is not done. The requirement is 1,000 signatures by September 4, and it is expected it will succeed. The only other years in which the party was on all ballots for president were 1980, 1992, 1996, and 2016.

Democratic: on August 18, the party nominated Joe Biden. The vote was: Biden 3,558; Bernie Sanders 1,151; abstentions 5; no vote 35. For vice-president, Kamala Harris is the first Democratic Party nominee for either President or Vice-President from one of the western states.

Republican: on August 24, the party nominated President Donald Trump. The vote was unanimous.

American Independent: on August 15, it nominated Rocky De La Fuente for President and Kanye West for vice-president. It is only on the ballot in California.

Natural Law Party (of Michigan): in early August, it nominated De La Fuente.

Legal Marijuana Now: in late August, it nominated Hawkins for President. It is only on in Minnesota. However because the Green Party petition for president in Minnesota succeeded, and because Minnesota doesn’t allow fusion, Hawkins will need to choose just one of the two nominations.

Independence Party (of New York): on August 20, it nominated Brock Pierce for president.

Oregon Progressive: on August 25, it nominated Dario Hunter for president.

On July 29, Leonard Peltier withdrew as the vice-presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The new nominee is Sunil Freeman.

On August 11, David Zuckerman won the primary of two Vermont parties for Governor, the Democratic Party and the Progressive Party. He is a leader of the Progressive Party and the current Lieutenant Governor. He will be on the November ballot as "Progressive/Democrat."