On July 17, U.S. District Court Judge Philip Halpern will hear Eisen v Cuomo, s.d., 7:20cv-5121. This is a challenge to the New York executive order of June 30 that sets the number of signatures for an independent U.S. House candidate at 2,450 signatures, due July 30.

Normally an independent for U.S. House in New York needs 3,500 signatures. The Governor’s order set the requirement at 70% of normal. However, earlier this year, the Governor had set the primary petition for U.S. House candidates at only 30% of normal. The state’s brief is due later today, July 16.

On June 24, U.S. District Court Judge James L. Graham, a Reagan appointee, rejected ballot access relief for independent candidates in Ohio. Hawkins v DeWine, s.d., 2:20cv-2781. The 12-page order says that because Ohio had exempted “First Amendment Activity” from its lockdown order, there is no basis for relief. The opinion says, “The State’s COVID-19 orders imposed no significant burden on plaintiffs’ signature-gathering rights.”

Howie Hawkins has appealed to the Sixth Circuit. The case number is 20-3717. Ohio requires 5,000 signatures for statewide independent petitions. The presidential petition is due August 5. The only ballot-qualified parties in Ohio are Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian.

This is the first year in which it has been possible for an independent presidential candidate to get on the Oklahoma ballot without a petition. Instead they can qualify with a $35,000 filing fee. On July 15, the deadline, three independent presidential candidates paid their fee and submitted a list of presidential elector candidates. They are Brock Pierce, Kanye West, and Jade Simmons.

Here is the website for Jade Simmons. She lives in Texas. The website says she will only try to get on the ballot in states that don’t permit write-ins for president.