on April 17, the Montana legislature passed HB 207. Although originally this bill raised the number of signatures for non-presidential independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties, the final version lowers the petition requirement, from 5% of the winner’s vote in the last election, to 4% of the winner’s vote.

Assuming it is signed, this decreases the petition requirement for U.S. Senate in 2026 from 15,985 signatures to 12,788 signatures. This still leave Montana will one of the strictest statewide independent petition requirements of any state.

The bill also says that if a petition fails, the candidate receives his or her filing fee back. And it makes it illegal for a primary loser to be a write-in candidate in the general election.

This appears to be the first bill that has passed in any state this year that eases ballot access.

Presidential independents continue to need 5,000 signatures.

A bill has been introduced in the Puerto Rico legislature to cancel presidential primaries if it appears there is no suspense as to who is likely to be nominated. It is PC 76.

All year, a case has been pending in the U.S. Supreme Court on the federal law that limits how much political parties may spend on the campaigns of their own nominees, assuming the party and the nominee coordinate with each other. The case is National Republican Senatorial Committee v FEC, 24-3051.

The FEC still hasn’t filed a brief in defense of the law. The FEC response deadline has been postponed four times. It was due January 6, then February 6, then March 10, then April 9, and is now due May 9.