The Fourth Circuit will hear Sarvis v Alcorn on May 10, 11, or 12; the exact date hasn’t been set yet. This is the case that challenges the Virginia law that says the nominees of the qualified parties always appear first on the ballot. The plaintiff, Rob Sarvis, was the Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in 2014 and all the ballots listed the Democratic and Republican nominees ahead of him. The only qualified parties in Virginia during the last nineteen years have been the Republican and Democratic nominees.
The U.S. District Court said that being listed first on the ballot is an advantage, but that the law is constitutional because states have an interest in bolstering the two major parties against all their competitors. Here is the Sarvis reply brief.
The state in terms of organising elections should have no interest in bolstering any party over another.
In many countries ballot papers are listed by candidate name or in a random order with the party as a secondary indicator – unless the election is based on a party list where it is alphabetical based on party name
Clingman v Beaver getting no respect. (And even though I’m not a betting man, I’d bet that nobody asks the next SCOTUS nominee anything about it — probably no mention of ballot access at all. But I’d be delighted to help prove myself wrong.)