On December 20, opponents of the New York May petition deadline for independent candidates filed a cert petition in the U.S. Supreme Court. Meadors v Erie County Board of Elections, number not yet assigned.

The U.S. District Court upheld the May deadline, which had been moved to May in 2019. Earlier the deadline had been in August.

The Second Circuit refused to hear the merits of the case, claiming the case was moot. The appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is mainly concerned with the mootness issue. Back in 1968 the U.S. Supreme Court had said constitutional ballot access cases are not moot just because the election is over. The Second Circuit opinion is inconsistent with the 1968 precedent.

On December 16, two proposed initiatives to repeal the Alaska top-four system were submitted. The state has two months to approve the wording. If the wording is approved, the signature-gathering can begin. See this story.

On November 5, minor party and independent candidates for U.S. Senate received 3.3% of the total vote cast for U.S. Senate. This does not include write-in votes. Also this only includes the 33 regularly-scheduled Senate elections, not special elections.

Ten of the 33 states with U.S. Senate elections had no minor party or independent candidate on the ballot. Obviously if all 33 states had had minor party or independent candidates, the “other” total would have been significantly higher.

The states with only a Republican and a Democrat on the ballot for U.S. Senate were: California, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.