On February 20, the Democratic National Committee filed its brief in the Eleventh Circuit in Wilding v Democratic National Committee Services, 17-14194. The brief says this case “is an improper attempt to forge the federal courts into a political weapon to be used by individuals who are unhappy with how a political party selected its candidate in a presidentia campaign.

The case had been filed in 2016 by Democrats who had contributed to the Democratic Party, and who are or were supporters of Bernie Sanders. They charged that the party broke its own rules and tilted the presidential nomination contest toward Hillary Clinton.

The Green Party has never been on the ballot in Idaho, although some of its presidential nominees have qualified as independent candidates. The Idaho independent petition is only 1,000 signatures for statewide office, but the party petition is 2% of the last presidential vote, which is currently 13,809.

However, the Green Party is now circulating a party petition in Idaho, and it has a few hundred signatures. The deadline is August 30. The reason the party petition deadline is so late is that the Populist Party won a lawsuit in the Ninth Circuit in 1984 against the old May deadline.

If a party can get on the ballot in Idaho, it can easily remain on the ballot, as long as it continues to be active. A party remains on the ballot if it runs at least three candidates every two years. It doesn’t matter how many votes its candidates get; it merely must run three candidates.

According to this TASS news story, all eight presidential candidates on the ballot in the March 18 Russian presidential election are invited into televised debates. However, incumbent President Vladimir Putin has declined to participate in any debates.