On September 8, Rocky De La Fuente filed a lawsuit against the Texas ballot access requirements for independent presidential candidates, and against the state’s sore loser law as applied to presidential candidates. Kennedy v Secretary of State of Texas, w.d., 1:16cv-1047.

Texas is the only state with an independent presidential petition deadline earlier than June 9. The full range of deadlines for this type of petition, around the nation, is June 9 through September 9, except that Texas’ deadline is May 9.

Texas is also one of only two states in which the deadline for an independent congressional candidate is later than the deadline for an independent presidential candidate. The Texas petition deadline for independent congressional candidates, and state and county office, is June 23. The other such state is Nebraska, where the independent presidential deadline is August 1 but the independent deadline for congress is September 1 (also this year the Vermont independent presidential deadline is 3 days earlier than the independent congressional deadline; both are in August).

Texas is also one of only three states that requires more signatures for an independent presidential candidate than for an independent candidate for other statewide office. The Texas presidential petition is 79,939 signatures but the petition for other statewide office is 47,086. The U.S. Supreme Court said in Anderson v Celebrezze that states must go easier on ballot access for president than for other office. The other states with this characteristic are Florida and Oklahoma. De La Fuente and Jill Stein are suing Oklahoma.

The West Virginia State Supreme Court heard Wells v Miller on September 7, and the Court suggested it would issue an opinion by the close of business on Thursday, September 8. However, there is no opinion yet as of 6:30 p.m. eastern time. The issue is whether anyone who holds the constitutional qualifications to hold an elective office may petition to be an independent candidate, or whether only registered independents can do that.

There is no West Virginia law restricting who can be an independent candidate. But all candidates, whether general election or primary election, use the same declaration of candidacy form, and it asks for the candidate’s party affiliation. Because the form was mostly designed for primary candidates, it seems to suggest that no one can run if the candidate’s registration and the candidate’s ballot label don’t match up.

On September 7, the New Mexico Secretary of State agreed to put Better for America on the ballot as a qualified party. Earlier the Secretary of State had determined that its petition did not have enough valid signatures. Better for America then sued, and the day before the court hearing, the Secretary of State settled the case and said the party will go on the ballot. It is extremely likely that Better for America will certify presidential elector candidates who are pledged to Evan McMullin.

The case had been Better for America v Winter, Santa Fe district court, d-101-cv-2016-1955.