In the last few days, Jack Gargan died at the age of 88 in Thailand, where he had been living. Gargan had formed an organization called T.H.R.O. in 1990, which encouraged voters not to re-elect their member of Congress. In 1991, after his movement had become quite well-known, he and John J. Hooker conceived of the idea that Ross Perot should run for President as an independent. Gargan organized mass meetings and roused the audience to encourage this idea, even giving anyone who wanted a sign that said “Run Ross Run” at a meeting at which Perot was speaking.

Gargan also became the second national chair of the Reform Party, which had been organized in 1995. In 1998, Jesse Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota on the Reform Party ticket. Gargan welcomed that victory, but Perot did not, and Perot’s allies helped recall Gargan as national chairman in February 2000 in a national convention in Nashville. Here is the wikipedia page about Gargan.

Mississippi has two U.S. Senate elections this year. The full-term race is a partisan race, but the special election for the other seat is a non-partisan race, with no party labels and no party nominees. In the special election, there are two Republicans running and two Democrats running, with a runoff if no one gets a majority in November.

Here is the November 2018 ballot, which has the US Senate full term race listed first, followed by the special election for the other seat. The two Republicans are appointed incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Chris McDaniel. The two Democrats are Mike Espy and Tobey Bernard Bartee.

In 2016, the Utah legislature amended the election law to require that independent candidates must have this message underneath their names on the ballot: “This candidate is not affiliated with, or does not qualify to be listed on the ballot as affiliated with a political party.”

There is only one independent candidate for any federal or state office on the Utah ballot this year. She is Marsha Holland, running for State House, district 73. She is the only opponent of the incumbent Republican. She has raised more money than her opponent. On November 2, she filed a federal lawsuit against the law requiring that ballot label for independent candidates. She does not ask for injunctive relief, but she says she intends to run in 2020 as well, and she asks that the label be declared unconstitutional. Here is her six-page Complaint. Holland v Cox, 4:18cv-74. The case is assigned to Judge David Nuffer, an Obama appointee.

Her complaint says that she has learned from multiple sources that when voters see that label, they believe it means it is saying she is not qualified to be elected. Here is a news story about her lawsuit, showing a picture of the ballot.