On March 1, Arkansas Representative Mark McElroy announced that he will run for re-election as an independent. He had been elected as a Democrat in 2012, 2014, and 2016. He represents the 11th House district, in southeast Arkansas.
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Joel Giambra, who was the elected County Executive of Erie County 1999-2007, is ending his bid for the Republican nomination for Governor of New York. But he will seek the Reform Party nomination, so as to run in November. See this story.
Noah Dyer is an independent candidate for Governor of Arizona. The independent petition requirement in Arizona is severe; it requires 37,890 signatures. The only other states that require more signatures in 2018 for a statewide independent are Georgia, Nebraska, and Texas. Dyer’s campaign web page includes a section soliciting individuals to become paid petitioners for him. He is paying 75 cents per signature.
Rocky De La Fuente has a federal lawsuit arguing that the number of signatures for a statewide independent is unconstitutional, because the state requires substantially fewer signatures for a new party. The new party petition this year is 23,041.
According to this story, Utah legislators are irritated with the Republican Party decision last weekend to declare that Republicans who petition onto the primary ballot are not to be considered members of the Republican Party. One legislator is drafting a bill that would require all Republicans who want to be on the primary ballot to submit petitions. Another legislator is drafting a bill to eliminate the “Republican” label on the November ballot.
On February 13, the North Carolina legislature passed HB 90, which says that the State Board of Elections should be composed of nine members: four Democrats, four Republicans, and one member who is neither. Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, still hasn’t acted on the bill. The daily newspaper for Raleigh, the News & Observer, has endorsed the bill. See this editorial.