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.

On January 15, the Kentucky Senate State and Local Government passed SB 3 unanimously. It moves elections for Governor and the other statewide state elected offices from the odd year before a presidential election, to presidential election years. Assuming it passes the legislature this year, voters would vote on the idea in November 2020. The change would not take effect until after the 2023 gubernatorial election. If the voters pass it, the candidates elected in 2023 would get five-year terms temporarily, and the next gubernatorial election would be 2028.

The only other states that elect governors in odd years are Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia.

Kentucky holds state legislative elections in even years.