Rocky De La Fuente is in the process of filing this cert petition in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to review the Ninth Circuit decision that upheld California’s ballot access law for independent presidential candidates. No independent candidate petition in California has succeeded since 1992. Important presidential candidates who failed to use the procedure include Eugene McCarthy in 1976, Ralph Nader in 2004, and Evan McMullin in 2016. UPDATE: the case is 19-524. If the state wishes to respond, its brief is due November 21. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the update.

For 2020, California requires almost 200,000 valid signatures, to be collected in 105 days. The petition cannot begin to circulate until the presidential candidate has chosen his or her 55 presidential elector candidates, because the names of all of them must appear on the petition.