On September 12, independent presidential candidate Rocky De La Fuente sued the Alabama Secretary of State, who had initially put him on the ballot, and who had then removed him after noticing that he had run in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary in Alabama. De La Fuente v Merrill, m.d., 16-cv-755. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Myron Thompson, a Carter appointee.

Alabama let Lyndon LaRouche run as an independent presidential candidate in 1992, even though LaRouche had run in the 1992 Alabama Democratic presidential primary. The sore loser law has not changed in any material way since then. It has been expanded since then to cover minor parties as well as independents, but that is not relevant to De La Fuente.

On September 12, the Working Families Party of Connecticut released the list of its nominees. It nominated 90 individuals for Congress or legislature who are also Democratic nominees. It nominated two legislative candidates who are not the nominees of any other party. Unlike past years, it did not nominate a single Republican nominee for any state or federal office. See this story.

For President, the Working Families Party in Connecticut has no nominee. In order for WFP to nominate Hillary Clinton, it would have needed a petition of 7,500 names. New York is the only state in which WFP has ever nominated anyone for President, and in New York it has always been the Democratic presidential nominee.

Alabama has over 100 partisan offices up for election in November, for which candidates must file with the Secretary of State, not the county. Yet, other than for president, there are only two independent or minor party candidates on the November ballot for the multi-county local races. There are none on for Congress. The legislature is not up for election this year. Here is the list of the two candidates, both independents. One is running for Circuit Judge and one is running for District Attorney.

Alabama’s non-presidential independent procedures require signatures equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, and the petitions are due on March 1. The Libertarian Party completed a petition to be on the November ballot for county office in Jefferson County. Even though the party double-checked its petition and found enough valid signatures, the county said there were not enough valid signatures, and refused to provide details. The party considered suing, but did not do so.