On May 9, Rocky De La Fuente and Jill Stein dismissed their ballot access case in the Tenth Circuit. The case had been filed last year to challenge the law that required independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, to submit over 40,000 signatures, whereas an entire new party could get on the ballot with fewer than 25,000 signatures.

Now that the law has changed, so that the number of signatures for new parties and independent presidential candidates match, the lawsuit is no longer relevant. The new law, signed by the Governor on May 5, says independent presidential candidates and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties can get on the ballot with no petition if they pay a large filing fee. The amount of that filing fee is not known for certain yet.

If the 2020 presidential filing fee turns out to be $35,000, it is possible a new lawsuit will be filed over the amount of the fee, but that may be several years in the future.

On May 10, New Hampshire Representative Joseph Stallcop held a press conference to say he is switching party registration from Democratic to Libertarian. He represents the Cheshire County 4th district, and had been elected without opposition as a Democrat in 2016. He is 21 years old.

Because the Libertarian Party now has two state representatives, it is entitled to be recognized as a caucus, with its own room in the capitol. Stallcop has become a dues-paying member of both the national and state Libertarian Parties. Thanks to Independent Political Report and Darryl Perry for this news.

On May 8, a federal lawsuit was filed charging that the ratio between California voters and the number of legislators is so extreme, that Californians effectively do not have a voice in their state legislature. With only 40 State Senators and only 80 Assemblymembers, the typical State Senate district has a population of almost 1,000,000; and the typical Assembly district has a population of almost 500,000.

Plaintiffs include some county supervisors and county sheriffs, and also the California Libertarian Party, the American Independent Party, and the Marin County Green Party. The case is Citizens for Fair Representation v Padilla, e.d., 2:17cv-973. The case is assigned to Judge Kimberly Mueller, an Obama appointee. Here is a Courthouse News Service story about the lawsuit. UPDATE: here is the Complaint. The city of Fort Jones, in Siskiyou County, is a co-plaintiff. The case number on this complaint is just a temporary number, and not the actual case number.