On January 17, the Maryland Secretary of State announced which presidential primary candidates are discussed in the news media, and which will be on the presidential primary ballots automatically.

For the Republican ballot, he chose President Donald Trump and William Weld. See the list for both major parties here.

Candidates not chosen may still get on the ballot if they submit 3,200 signatures of party members by January 24. The petition must include 400 valid signatures from each of the eight U.S. House districts. Thanks to J. Bradley Jansen for the link.

January 15 was the deadline for Mississippi presidential primary candidates, and for other office as well. Three Republicans will be on the presidential primary ballot: President Donald Trump, Rocky De La Fuente, and William Weld.

The Democratic presidential primary ballot will include ten names: Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang. Candidates got on the Democratic ballot by paying a fee of $2,500, and submitting 500 signatures. Any registered voter could sign. Thanks to Jim Riley for mention of the mandatory petition.

For the congressional races, no minor party has any candidates, except that the Libertarian Party has a candidate for U.S. Senate. See the list here.

On January 16, the Florida Supreme Court released an opinion in Advisory Opinion to the Governor re: Implementation of Amendment 4, the Voting Restoration Amendment, SC19-1341. The opinion construes the initiative passed by the voters in November 2018, which ended the ban on ex-felons registering to vote.

The Governor had requested the Florida Supreme Court to construe the amendment. The Florida Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the initiative does not let any ex-felon register until he or she has paid all fines, court costs, and restitution. One judge joined the majority opinion but expressed disagreement with the majority opinion on how such questions are to be decided, and whether the words in the initiative stand alone, or whether courts also need to look at the campaign materials to discern how to interpret an initiative.

The Florida Supreme Court opinion does not bear on the question of whether individuals unable to pay fines, court costs, and restitution can register anyway, under the U.S. Constitution. That question is pending in the Eleventh Circuit in Hand v DeSantis, 18-11388.