On August 23, John Wood, independent centrist candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, withdrew his candidacy. He had collected the 10,000 required signatures to be on the ballot before the primary was held. At the Republican Senate primary, Eric Greitens was defeated, so the Wood candidacy has less importance. This is an example of why states should have independent candidate deadlines at least a month after the primary is over, so potential independents can make an informed choice about whether to run. Thanks to Ken Bush for the news.

On August 23, the People’s Party of Florida notified the Eleventh Circuit about the August 22 decision of a Florida state appeals court decision putting Rebekah Jones on the primary ballot for U.S. House. See the filing here in People’s Party of Florida v Florida Department of State, 22-12451.

Both the People’s Party, and the Rebekah Jones candidacy, had been barred from the ballot by the Florida law that says no one may run in a primary who has not been a member of the party for a full year before filing. The State Court of Appeals on August 22 had restored Rebekah Jones to the Democratic primary, saying that if the candidates certifies that she is eligible, no one can dispute that.

The People’s Party wants to place Elise Mysels on the November ballot as its nominee for Pasco County Commission. If Mysels does not get on the ballot, the voters will have no choice for that election because there are no other candidates except for an unopposed slate of Republicans. Mysels could not have been a member of the People’s Party for a full year before qualifying because the People’s Party wasn’t on the ballot that early, and voters in Florida cannot be registered into an unqualified party. The U.S. District Court Judge had ruled against the People’s Party, citing the “Purcell Principle”, which he believed bars adding candidates to the ballot in an election year. Obviously the state court in the Jones cases didn’t think the “Purcell Principle” bars adding candidates to the ballot by court order in the middle of the election year.

On August 22, the Alaska legislature sent SB 161 to Governor Mike Dunleavy. This is the bill to ease the definition of a qualified party, from one that has registration equal to 3% of the last turnout, to exactly 5,000 registrants. The Governor must act on the bill by September 14.