Texas officials have postponed the runoff primaries from May 26 to July 14. The order did not mention the question of the independent candidate petition deadline. For non-presidential independents, it is 30 days after the runoff primary. But the independent presidential petition is not tied to the date of any primary, and is set inflexibly for May 11. Independent presidential petitions require 79,939 signatures. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.
Illinois petitioning for unqualified parties and independent candidates is not permitted until March 24. When the petitioning window opens, the Libertarian Party petition will list Bennett Morris for president and Bob Johnston for vice-president. Illinois does not have party petitions, but it does allow stand-ins for its candidate petitions.
Illinois Libertarians and Greens are working to persuade state legislators to pass some ballot access reform that would take effect very soon, and are also making plans for lawsuits if no relief is given. The statewide petition is 25,000 signatures. Illinois is under a “lockdown” imposed by the state government, similar to New York and California.
On March 20, the Georgia Secretary of State extended the petitioning deadline for minor party and independent candidates from July 14 to August 14.
On March 20, the Ohio Supreme Court said that the Libertarian Party may intervene in the Democratic Party’s lawsuit over the decision to postpone the primary (for president and all other office). The Libertarian Party will argue that the state officials who moved the primary didn’t have the authority to do that, at least relative to federal offices.
On March 20, Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb moved the Indiana primary (for president and all other partisan office) from May 5 to June 2. See this news story. Thanks to Demorep for this news.
