NBC News has published this article by political consultant Reed Galen. It explains how ballot access laws in many, if not most states, make it difficult or impossible for independent candidates to run.
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According to this National Public Radio story, an independent candidate for U.S. House in Alaska, Alyse Galvin, has already raised $284,000 for her campaign, which is a lot for Alaska. The incumbent, Don Young, is running for re-election. He has been in Congress longer than any other member now serving.
Some more Republican candidates in the Tennessee primary have now been removed from the ballot by party officers, for ideological and political reasons. See this story.
This article says the “disobedient” Colorado Democratic presidential electors will appeal last week’s decision in Nemanich v Williams.
California has been using the top-two system starting in 2011. But 2018 is the first year in which both Governor and U.S. Senate are on the ballot. Both offices always attract many candidates into the primary. And because candidates from all parties, as well as independent candidates, all run on the same ballot, the 2018 primary ballot is especially long.
This article from the Los Angeles Times explains that many counties are forced to put either Governor, or U.S. Senate, on the primary ballot so that some candidates for either office are listed in two separate columns. This, in turn, causes many voters to make a choice in each column. So, even though these voters understand that they can only vote for one person for any particular race, they still vote for two candidates for the same office because they choose one candidate from each column.
Of course, if each of California’s six qualified parties had its own primary ballot, there would be no such problem.