Florida candidate filing fees are not only the highest in the nation, but are twice the state with the 2nd highest fees, Georgia. The Cape Coral Breeze has a letter to the editor criticizing Florida’s filing fee amounts. The letter writer says he is considering running for legislature this year, but the fee is $1,700. He says he once was a member of the New Hampshire legislature, where the filing fee to run for state house is $2.
On February 19, the government of Virginia asked U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney to explain unclear points in his January 2026 order striking down Virginia’s law on felon voting. See here.
On February 20, the Kentucky Senate passed SB 80. It restores voting rights for most felons after completion of their sentence. Certain felonies are excluded: treason, Bribery at an election, election fraud, violent felony offensses, felong sexual abuse, and criminal offense against a child. If the bill passes, the voters would vote on the bill, because it is a proposed constitutional amendment.
A bill in the Washington state legislature to ban paying initiative petitioners on a per-signature basis is dead. SB 5973 did not advance through the Senate, and it is now too late for it to pass.
The Illinois Green Party will attempt to place its statewide slate on the 2026 ballot. See here for the list of the statewide slate. The party did not get on the statewide ballot in 2024. It is likely that the Green Party will be the only third party that petitions for statewide office in Illinois this year, except for the Independence Party. The law requires 25,000 signatures. The state does not permit petitioning to begin until February 22, and the signatures are due in late May. The deadline is probably unconstitutionally early.
