Maine bill LD 1061 has passed the legislature. Governor Janet Mills didn’t sign it, but she didn’t veto it either, so it is now law. It somewhat eases the means for a party to remain ballot-qualified. The old law said it had to have at least 10,000 registered members who actually went to the polls in November, in order to remain on. The new law says it must have 10,000 registered members on general election day, but it doesn’t matter how many of them go to the polls.

Also the bill says a party also remains ballot-qualified if it polls 5% for Governor or President at either of the last two elections.

The bill started out by making it easier for a new party to become ballot-qualified, but that part of the bill was amended out. It originally cut the 5,000-registered members provision to 2,500.

If LD 1061 had been in effect in 2016, the Maine Libertarian Party would have been ballot-qualified in 2020, because Gary Johnson, the 2016 presidential nominee, received 5.09%.

On June 22, Curtis Sliwa won the Republican primary for Mayor of New York city. See this story. Sliwa was state chair of the Reform Party starting in September 2016. The Reform Party lost its qualified status in New York state in November 2018. In the November 2020 election, Sliwa endorsed Brock Pierce for president. Pierce was an independent presidential candidate who was also the nominee of the Independence Party of New York state.

Sliwa defeated his only opponent in the 2021 primary, Fernando Mateo, even though Mateo received approximately $2,000,000 in public funding, and Sliwa did not receive any public funding. The Republican Parties of Manhattan, Queens, and Bronx endorsed Mateo, but the Republican Parties of Brooklyn and Staten Island endorsed Sliwa. Thanks to Frank Morano for this news.

On June 23, John McAfee died in Spain. See this story. In 2016 he had sought the Libertarian presidential nomination and had placed third at the national convention, with 131 votes. Thanks to Gene Berkman for this news.