July 8 is the Nevada petition deadline for independent presidential candidates. The only independent candidate who filed is Rocky De La Fuente. He submitted approximately 14,000 signatures. The requirement is 5,431 signatures.
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July 12 is the Georgia petition deadline for independent candidate petitions, and petitions for the nominees of unqualified parties. Two presidential petitions were submitted on the deadline. The Green Party presidential elector petition contained approximately 12,000 signatures, and the independent petition for Rocky De La Fuente contained approximately 14,000 signatures. Under a court order issued in March 2016, the requirement for president is 7,500.
On July 6, Republican congressional candidate Philip Pidot withdrew his lawsuit over forcing New York to hold another Republican primary in the 3rd U.S. House district, but he will re-file it very soon. See this story.
He petitioned to be on the Republican primary ballot, but was told he didn’t have enough valid signatures. Later a state court ruled that he did have enough valid signatures, but it was too late to do anything about it. He then filed in federal court, arguing that the state must therefore hold a new primary just in his district, with his name on the ballot.
On July 11, U.S. District Court Judge James M. Moody, Jr., held a trial in Libertarian Party of Arkansas v Martin. The issue is the 2015 law that says new parties (which nominate by convention, not primary) must choose all their nominees (except President) by November of the year before the election. The Libertarian Party did choose some nominees by that deadline last year, but held another state convention in early 2016 and nominated some more.
Judge Moody said he would rule by July 18 on whether the new nominees can be listed on the November ballot. The Libertarian Party is the only ballot-qualified party in Arkansas this year, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. However, some other parties have petitioned to be ballot-qualified just for the presidential election. The deadline for that presidential party petition is August 1.
On July 12, the Arizona Secretary of State settled the Arizona Green Party lawsuit over the timing of presidential elector filing. Even though the party was late filing its list of presidential elector candidates, the Secretary of State is asking a U.S. District Court to issue an injunction allowing the filing to be considered valid. Sometimes when ballot access lawsuits are filed, states agree with the plaintiffs and there is no need for further court activity. The case is Arizona Green Party v Reagan, 2:16cv-2027.
The Arizona Libertarian Party had also been late with its presidential elector candidates in 1996, but had won a similar case in state court, although that 1996 case was contested. It seems somewhat likely that in 2017 the Arizona legislature may change the law on presidential elector filing. The current law has a June 1 deadline for parties to submit their presidential elector candidates, but that deadline is a relic of the days when parties chose presidential elector candidates in primaries. There is no rational reason for the elector candidates to be chosen so early, before the major parties even know who their presidential and vice-presidential nominees will be. This story says the Secretary of State will ask the 2017 session of the legislature to revise the deadline.