On August 15, Matt Erard, the Socialist Party’s nominee for U.S. House, 13th district, filed a lawsuit against Michigan’s law on how newly-qualifying parties get on the ballot. Such parties this year need 32,261 signatures, yet older parties only needed 16,083 votes to remain on, for both 2010 and 2012. In Williams v Rhodes, in 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court said states cannot require newly-qualifying parties to show support from more voters than the support that is required for older parties to remain on the ballot. The case is Erard v Michigan Secretary of State, eastern district, U.S. District Court, 2:12-cv-13627.

Erard is a pro se litigant, so he can’t represent the Socialist Party; he can only represent himself.