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.

On July 15, U.S. District Court Judge John A. Gibney, Jr., an Obama appointee, cut the number of signatures for minor party and independent candidates in Virginia for federal office (there are no state offices up in Virginia in 2020). The presidential petition is now 2,500 signatures. The U.S. Senate petition is now 3,500 signatures. The U.S. House requirement is 350 signatures. Constitution Party of Virginia v Virginia State Board of Elections, 3:20cv-349. Without this relief, president would have been 5,000; U.S. Senate 10,000; U.S. House 1,000.

Here is the opinion. The relief only extends to the plaintiffs, which are the Libertarian, Green, Constitution, and Independent Green Parties and their plaintiff-candidates.

The presidential petition remains the same, August 21. The new deadline for congressional candidates is August 1, at 7 p.m. That is a Saturday. The old deadline was in June. Thanks to Tina Rockett for this news.