On March 11, New Hanover County Board of Education member David Perry said he has changed his registration from Republican to Libertarian. New Hanover County has a population of approximately 240,000, and includes Wilmington. The office is partisan and members have four-year terms. Elections are at-large. Perry was elected in 2024.
Greg Ballard, who had previously announced his independent candidacy for Indiana Secretary of State, will use the partisan label “Lincoln Party”. That way, assuming he gets on the ballot and polls at least 2%, a party with that name will automatically become ballot-qualified. See this story.
Ballard is a former Mayor of Indianapolis. When he was Mayor, he was elected as a Republican.
Although no one qualified to appear on the New Mexico Republican primary ballot for U.S. Senate this year, the Republican Party is planning to nominate someone by write-in votes in the primary, which is in early June. See this story.
A previous blog post said that write-ins are not allowed in New Mexico primaries for U.S. Senate, but that was incorrect.
On March 9, the Idaho House passed HB 638. It restores presidential primaries, but requires a filing fee for presidential candidates. The bill makes no provision for presidential candidates who can’t afford the fee. The bill sets the date of the primaries in March.
The March 9 Chicago Tribune has this editorial, condemning the Illinois ballot access laws for independent and minor party candidates.
