On June 27, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party held a press conference with Representative Brandon Phinney, who said he had switched his registration from Republican to Libertarian. He is the third legislator to join the New Hampshire Libertarian Party this year. He is 29 years old, lives in Rochester, and was elected for the first time in 2016. His State Representative district, the Strafford County 24th district, elects only a single legislator (many New Hampshire representatives are elected from multi-member districts).

On June 21, California State Senator Ricardo Lara amended his SB 568. The original bill moved the primary for all office from June to March, but only in presidential years. The amended bill provides that the primary would be in March in midterm years as well as presidential years. However, it would not take effect until January 1, 2019.

The bill has already passed the Senate, and the Assembly Elections Committee, and is now in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The North Carolina House had scheduled a vote on Monday, June 26, on SB 656, the ballot access bill. However some legislators objected that the bill’s provision of 5,000 signatures for a statewide independent is too low, so the bill will probably go back to the House Elections Committee to discuss that objection. The bill provides 10,000 signatures for newly-qualifying parties.