The Independent Party became ballot-qualified in Louisiana in December 2016, but until now, it has not had any candidates for any federal or state office. But in this year’s congressional elections, the party has four U.S. House candidates. They are Frederick Jones in the First district, Belden Batiste in the Second district, Billy Burkette in the Fifth district, and Devin Lance Graham in the Sixth district.

Actual independent candidates in Louisiana have “no party” as a ballot label. But members of the Independent Party have “Independent” as their ballot label. It was not possible for an Independent Party to be qualified in Louisiana until 2014, when the legislature repealed the law that said no party could be called “Independent Party.”

The Independent Party became ballot-qualified by filing an application, paying a fee of $1,000, and showing that at least 1,000 voters were registered into the party.

On September 12, the Institute for Free Speech filed this amicus curiae brief in Libertarian National Committee v Federal Election Commission, in the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. This is the lawsuit over federal bans on large contributions from deceased individuals to political parties.

The amicus says, “This Court should fashion a broad, bright-line rule that cleanly clarifies the circumstances where contribution limits will not apply to bequests. Such a remedy is easily articulated. The Court should find that contribution limits are inappropriate where a bequest is made without any prior coordination with the recipient committee, and where that committee seeks to receive it only after the contributors’ death.” The amicus says that if such a clear ruling is not released, that will just cause more lawsuits on this subject in the future.

Socialist Action Party submitted almost 11,000 signtures this year to place its nominee for U.S. Senate, Fred Linck, on the Connecticut ballot. The Secretary of State still has not determined whether that petition has enough valid signatures. The requirement is 7,500. See this press release from the Linck campaign. The Secretary of State’s office is not responding to questions about the matter.