This article in Russia Today describes ballot access requirements for the March 18, 2018 presidential election in Russia. Parties with parliamentary representatives are on the ballot automatically. Other parties need 100,000 signatures to place a presidential nominee on the ballot. Independent candidates need 300,000 signatures. The signatures are due January 31, which is 46 days before the election.

In the United States, the earliest independent presidential deadline is North Carolina’s deadline in late April. Independent candidates for statewide office in North Carolina in 2020 will need 70,666 signatures, if the law isn’t changed before 2020; and the deadline will be 197 days before the November 3, 2020 election. A lawsuit, Leifert v North Carolina State Board of Elections, m.d., 1:17cv-147, is pending that challenges the independent requirements.

The Montgomery News, located in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, has this lengthy editorial and editorial cartoon, providing information about the status of the pending lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s U.S. House district boundaries. The editorial cartoon has a precise map of the districts in southeastern Pennsylvania, something that is unusual in cartoons.

Warren Redlich was the Libertarian Party nominee for Governor of New York in 2010. He polled 48,386 votes, the best showing that party has ever polled for Governor of New York. If he had reached 50,000 votes, the party would have become ballot-qualified for the first time.

Redlich’s campaign was injured because shortly before election day, a pamphlet was widely distributed claiming he was a sexual predator who preyed on children. Redlich believed that Roger Stone, who was backing a rival party called the Anti-Prohibition Party, was the author of the pamphlet. The Anti-Prohibition Party polled 20,429 for its gubernatorial nominee, Kristin Davis. Redlich sued Stone for defamation.

On December 15, a Manhattan jury decided that the pamphlet was defamatory, but it ruled for Stone because it believed there was not enough evidence that Stone was responsible for the pamphlet. See this story. Thanks to John Sproul for this news. Here is another story.