On August 30, some voters who want to vote for him Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown as an independent candidate filed a federal lawsuit against the New York petition deadline for independent candidates. In 2019 the legislature moved it from August to May, which was a sharp break with tradition. The deadline had always been in August, September, or October of election years until the 2019 change.

The case is Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, w.d., 1:21cv-982. It is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge John L. Sinatra, a Trump appointee, who has set the hearing for an injunction on Friday, September 3, at 10:30 a.m. in Buffalo. Here is the complaint.

Late on Friday, August 27, Virginia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe filed a brief in Republican Party of Virginia v Piper, in state trial court in Richmond. It argues there is no legal requirement for the declaration of candidacy to be signed. See this story.

This article by Evita Duffy, about the Virginia Republican lawsuit to keep Democratic gubernatorial nominee Terry McAuliffe off the November 2021 ballot, has a picture of the declaration of candidacy form that McAuliffe did not sign. It also shows that two witnesses signed the form, attesting that they observed his signature.