U.S. District Court Says Libertarian Party Lacks Standing to Challenge Unequal Contribution Limits in Georgia Gubernatorial Elections

Posted on by July 21, 2025
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On July 18, U.S. District Court Judge Mark Cohen, an Obama appointee, issued an opinion in Libertarian Party of Georgia v Raffensperger, n.d., 1:24cv-5763. This is a campaign finance case, in which the Libertarian and Green Parties sued over the law that permits individuals to give higher contributions to Democratic and Republican gubernatorial nominees than to other gubernatorial candidates. The ruling says the two minor parties lack standing because they haven’t named 2026 gubernatorial candidates, and may never do so.

Legal Marijuana Now Party of Nebraska Has Virtually Enough Registrations to Avoid Worrying About the Vote Test

Posted on by July 21, 2025
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In Nebraska, a party that has at least 10,000 registered members enjoys qualified status, regardless of whether it polls enough votes to stay on. The vote test is 5% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections.

The Legal Marijuana Now Party has so many registrants as of the July 1 tally, it is virtually certain to reach 10,000 in the next few months. It has 9,671. Every month it grows. In January 2022 it had 1,452; in January 2023 it had 4,215; in January 2024 it had 5,897; and in January 2025 it had 9,057.

July 2025 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Posted on by July 18, 2025
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BAD ACCESS BILLS PASS IN IOWA AND VERMONT, BUT NOT IN DELAWARE OR NEW HAMPSHIRE

During June, restrictive ballot access laws passed in Iowa and Vermont, but were defeated in Delaware and New Hampshire.

Delaware:  HB 65 would have moved the deadline for a new party to get on the ballot from August to March.  The purpose of the bill was to move the non-presidential primary from September to April, and because the deadline for a new party is tied to the primary date, the bill automatically makes the deadline far more restrictive.

The bill had passed the House overwhelmingly in April and had passed the Senate Elections & Governmental Affairs Committee in May.  But it was never brought up on the Senate floor, and the legislature has just adjourned.

There is no need for Delaware to link the deadline to the date of the primary.  Small and new parties nominate by convention, not primary, so it is irrational to link the deadline to the primary date.

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