Here is the story from Independent Political Report.
Good luck to the Ohio United Party, and I mean that most sincerely. 57,689 is essentially impossible to achieve for a minor party by July 1, 2026. That number is 1% of the total vote in Ohio for President in 2024.
After this November, it will be 1% of the total vote for Governor with a deadline of July 1, 2028, so that number is certain to decrease. But, it will be a very hard slog for a new minor party to achieve that.
On May 8, the Virginia Supreme Court voted 4-3 to strike down the constitutional amendment the voters had approved on April 21 that redrew the U.S. House district boundaries. Here’s a story.
Here is the decision in Scott v McDougle, 260127. The basis for the decision is that the Constitution requires the legislature, when amending the state Constitution, to pass the measure twice, with an intervening legislative election in between the two legislative votes. The rationale is that first the legislature passes the idea, then the voters have a chance to choose legislators and presumably react to what the old legislature had done relative to the proposed amendment, and then the new legislative session votes on the same idea again.
In this case, the legislature passed the amendment the first time in late October, at a time when 40% of the voters had already case early votes in the legislative election. The Court majority felt this is illegitimate. They felt that the first legislative vote should have been held before any of the voters had cast their votes on legislative candidates.
Long time Libertarian Party and independent candidates’ Campaign Manager John LaBeaume died unexpectedly at his home in Washington, DC, on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. He was 52.
Originally from the St. Louis area, I met John at the age of 14, when I was sent to St. Louis to petition for a three day weekend to help Ron Paul and LP Missouri candidates get on the 1988 General Election ballot.
John was the Campaign Manager for the outstanding Rob Sarvis for Governor of Virginia campaign in 2013. Sarvis, as the Libertarian Party candidate, received 146,084 votes, or 6.52%, in a three-way race.
John was also the current Campaign Adviser for the Bill Redpath for US Senate campaign in Ohio and the Terry Lynch for Washington, DC City Council, Ward 1, campaign.
He also advised the Redpath for US House campaigns in the 10th District of Virginia in 2010 and 2014.
John will certainly be missed.
On April 29, 2026, Americans for Citizen Voting PAC filed a “Plaintiff’s Memorandum In Support of Plaintiff’s Motion for an Ex Parte Temporary Restraining Order and Temporary Injunction in Waukesha County, Wisconsin Circuit Court challenging the ban on out of state residents circulating candidate petitions or petitions to recall public officeholders.
The challenged law, which was passed earlier this year, bars out of state residents from circulating such petitions, with US President/Vice President petitions exempt from such law.
The case is titled Americans for Citizen Voting PAC v. Wolfe.
On May 4, the Libertarian Party of Wisconsin joined the lawsuit as a Co-Plaintiff.
Butch Ware, the California Green candidate for Governor of California, is in U.S. District Court in Sacramento to overturn the California law that requires gubernatorial candidates to file copies of their income tax returns for the last five years. On May 6, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation filed this amicus curiae, agreeing with Ware that federal law and federal precedents do not permit states to require such disclosure. Ware v Weber, e.d., 2:26cv-1643.
