Colorado Primary Elections for Libertarian Party and Unity Party

Colorado holds primaries for four parties on June 30. It is unusual for minor parties to have primaries, but if a minor party nominating convention shows substantial support for two or more candidates for the same office, a primary is held. The Unity Party has a gubernatorial primary between Jeff Peckman and Paul Noel Fiorino. The Libertarian Party has a primary for Secretary of State between Alex Astley and Sean Vadney.

New Mexico Independent Candidate Files Lawsuit in State Court over 2% Petition Requirement

On June 5, independent New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Ken Miyagishima filed a lawsuit to overturn the 2% petition requirement for statewide independent candidates. The lawsuit was filed in Santa Fe district court. See this story.

No independent candidate has ever been on the ballot for Governor of New Mexico. New Mexico has never had easy ballot access requirements for independent candidates, although in the past New Mexico had very easy ballot access for minor parties. The only statewide independent candidate petitions that succeeded in New Mexico were those for president in 1980, 1992, and 2004; and one for U.S. Senate in 1996. Ever since 2019 the independent presidential petition has been one-half of 1%, so I am excluding instances of presidential petition usages that were after 2019.

Kentucky Secretary of State Files List of Candidates

The Kentucky Secretary of State has filed the list of congressional and legislative candidates for the November 2026 eletion. See it here.

The Kentucky Party petitioned for U.S. Senate, and for U.S. House in the 4th and 6th districts.

The Libertarian Party petitioned for U.S. House, 4th district.

The Kentucky Party was formed in 2024, when it nominated Jill Stein for president. Here is its platform. Recently the party persuaded the Kentucky State Board of Elections to tally its registrations. It had 162 registered members at the April 2026 tally.

Alabama Secretary of State Still Hasn’t Said How Many Signatures are Needed for U.S. House in the New Districts

Although Alabama has known since June 2 that it would be using the U.S. House map passed by the legislature last month, the Secretary of State has still not said how many signatures are needed for minor parties and independent candidates to run in those new districts. This is probably because the calculation is difficult and the Secretary of State hasn’t done the calculation. The Libertarian Party does have a candidate in the Second District. The Secretary of State’s office has said that it will not reduce the number of signatures. The requirement is 3% of the gubernatorial vote of 2022, inside each district.