On June 4, former Republican congressman Joe Schwarz said he will not be an independent candidate this year for Governor of Michigan. See this story. He had been toying with the idea for three months.

Michigan is one of eight states in which no independent candidate for Governor has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot. Michigan didn’t have statutory procedures for independent candidates for any office, until 1988. The courts forced Michigan to add such procedures. Frequent commenter DemoRep had its own lawsuits as long ago as 1970 to force Michigan to create procedures for independent candidates. Although his lawsuits did not win, he was ahead of his time. In 1974 the U.S. Supreme Court said that states must have procedures for independent candidates to get on the ballot. Even after this issue was won in the U.S. Supreme Court, it took 14 more years before the Michigan legislature would comply with it.

The other states that have never had an independent candidate for Governor on a government-printed ballot are Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Delaware and New Mexico, like Michigan, had no procedures for independent candidates for any office to get on the ballot, until the U.S. Supreme Court 1974 decision.