On October 30, the plaintiffs in Kim v Hanlon, 3:24cv-1098, filed this Reply Brief. They argue fiercely that they do have standing and that the U.S. District Court should finally rule that the old ballot format for primaries should be declared unconstitutional.
On October 22, an Arkansas state trial court ruled that voters in State Senate district 26 cannot be forced to wait until June 26, 2026, to fill the vacancy. The seat has been vacant since the incumbent died on September 2. The Governor argued that she has complete discretion to choose the special election date, but the judge said the Governor’s position is not supported by the state Constitution. See this story. The Governor is appealing. The case is Shelby v Sanders, 60cv-25-12172.
On October 30, Fox News Polls released a New Jersey gubernatorial poll. The poll did not mention the minor party candidates, but simply asked respondents if they intended to vote Democratic, Republican, or for “someone else.” It then broke all three categories down by age and various other variables. See the results here. Scroll down to question three. Only 1% of voters over age 65 intend to vote for a minor party, but 8% of the voters under age 30 expect to do so.
The minor parties on the ballot for Governor are the nominees of the Libertarian and Socialist Workers Parties. The Green Party has a write-in candidate.
On October 30, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed SB 1. It changes the 2026 congressional primary from April 18 to May 16. It also changes the rules for signatures for congress for independent and minor party candidates, for 2026 only. Before the bill was signed, U.S. Senate candidates needed 2,500 signatures, with 250 signatures from each U.S House district. But now there is no distribution requirement, and the 2,500 signatures can come from anywhere in the state. U.S. House candidates needed 750 signatures from within the district, but now they can collect signatures from anywhere in the state. They don’t need to be from any particular district.
Here is the bill. It was introduced October 22, passed the Senate on October 25, and passed the House on October 29.
The bill passed on a party-line vote, with all Republicans supporting it, and all Democrats voting against it. The reason for the bill is that the legislature believes that the U.S. Supreme Court will invalidate the current U.S. House districts, in the pending lawsuit Louisiana v Callais, 24-109. If the Court does that, the legislature will want to draw new districts. No one knows when the Court will announce its decision, and it is quite possible the decision won’t come out until the late spring of 2026, in which case the new primary date still would be too early.
The Hawaii Elections Office has determined that the Green Party petition to get back on the ballot has enough valid signatures.
