Newspapers in Texas are noting that no group successfully completed the petition for party status in Texas this year. No such petition has succeeded in Texas since 2010, when the Green Party last did the petition. See this story.
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The Daily Beast has this article about the money Jill Stein raised to pay for recounts in a few states of the November 2016 presidential vote.
On May 29, an independent candidate for Nebraska Treasurer, Kent Bernbeck, filed a lawsuit against the petition requirement. The 2016 session of the Nebraska legislature raised the petition from 4,000 signatures for statewide office, to 10% of the number of registered voters as of the time the petition is submitted, which is a constantly shifting target. Bernbeck v Gale, 4:18cv-3073. Here is the Complaint. The case is assigned to Judge John M. Gerrard, an Obama appointee.
The case also challenges the Nebraska law that says the ballot label for all independent candidates is “By petition.” UPDATE: here is a short Associated Press story about the lawsuit.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions on Tuesday, May 29, but did not issue any of the five pending election law decisions. The next decisions will be released June 4.
On May 23-24, the New York Democratic Party held its state convention. The delegates tabled a resolution that would have allowed independent voters to vote in Democratic Party primaries, if they switched to being Democrats by 25 days before the primary. Parties have the right to decide to let independent voters vote in their primaries, regardless of state law. Current New York statutory law says no one can vote in a primary (except new registrants) unless they had registered into the party in the year before the election.