Tennessee holds general elections for county office on August 6.  In Moore County, the ballots have already been printed, and they list the independent candidate for Sheriff above the only other candidate, who is the Republican nominee.  This article has a picture of the ballot.  The Republican Party is threatening to sue, because state law says party nominees are always listed first on the ballot, ahead of independent candidates.

There have been a fair number of lawsuits about general election ballot order.  Some have resulted in decisions saying the Constitution requires that each candidate have an equal opportunity to be listed first, either with a random process or by rotation.  When states are sued over laws that give the major parties the top spot on the ballot, states usually defend their laws by saying ballot order doesn’t make any difference.  But clearly, the Moore County Republican Party does believe ballot order makes a difference.

On July 16, the Wisconsin Green Party filed this amicus curiae brief in United Wisconsin v Wisconsin Elections Commission, Dane Co. Circuit Court, 25-cv-1438.  The issue in the lawsuit is Wisconsin’s ban on fusion.  The Green Party brief takes pains to acknowledge that it has some sympathy with the United Wisconsin Party.  But the Green Party focuses on New York’s experience with fusion, and makes the case that, at least in New York, fusion has harmed minor parties that are independent of the two major parties.

The brief also says that Ranked Choice Voting is somewhat incompatible with fusion.  Thanks to Independent Political Report for the link.

In 2024, independent presidential candidate Cornel West sued Pennsylvania over the discriminatory treatment of presidential elector candidates.  Minor party and independent presidential candidates must obtain a notarized declaration of candidacy from each of their presidential elector candidates, and if even one elector candidate doesn’t submit the paperwork, the presidential candidate is kept off the ballot.  But the presidential elector candidates of parties that have 15% of the statewide registration need file no paperwork whatsoever.  Instead their parties simply write a letter to the state elections office, listing them.

Cornel West sued over this policy in 2024, and the case has been repeatedly delayed.  On July 31 all the deadlines for the trial briefs were extended again, and are now due in October.

Pennsylvania’s policy in 2024 injured not only Cornel West, but also the presidential nominees of the Constitution Party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.