On August 18, Florida held primaries. David Jolly won the Democratic nomination for Governor. He had been a Republican congressman in 2014-2017. He had then left Congress, left the Republican Party, and in 2021 became head of the SAM Party (“SAM” stands for Serve America Movement). Then in 2022, after the Forward Party formed, he became a member of the Forward Party. He joined the Democratic Party in April 2025.
On August 18, the Fourth Circuit struck down South Carolina’s law that says all voters age 65 and above may vote early, but younger voters may not vote early unless they won’t be near their home on election day. Grant v Belangia, 25-1413. Here is the decision.
The state is now free to either extend early voting with no excuse to all voters, or to prohibit it for all voters.
The decision depends on the 26th Amendment, which outlaws discrimination by age for the voting process, except of course it doesn’t apply to people under age 18.
This is the first time the 26th amendment has been used to strike down a law, since the early 1970’s.
See this story for the latest in the New Jersey Libertarian Party’s lawsuit against the out-of-state petitioner ban.
This Arkansas Times story predicts that the Libertarian Party nominee for Governor, Colt Shelby, will poll enough votes to keep the Libertarian Party on the ballot automatically for 2028 and 2030. The Libertarian Party has never before overcome the Arkansas 3% vote test. which applies to Governor or President, but no other statewide office.
On Firday, August 28, a U.S. District Court will hear oral argument in New Mexico Forward Party v Toulouse Oliver, 1:26cv-2286. This is a ballot access case. The Forward Party hopes to obtain injunctive relief to place its statewide nominees on the November ballot.
