Iowa State Senator David Johnson has changed his registration from “Republican” to “independent.” See this story. Thanks to several people for the link. He changed his registration because he is unhappy with Donald Trump.
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On June 8, the plaintiffs in Level the Playing Field v Federal Election Commission filed this brief. It argues that the FEC must consider new evidence that the Commission on Presidential Debates has so far not looked at. Some of that evidence relates to polling in the present-day era.
Also, the brief chides the FEC for apparently never having pursued an enforcement action against a debate sponsor, in its entire history. If the FEC has ever done that, the FEC briefs have not yet mentioned any such instance. Federal campaign law does not permit corporations to contribute to federal candidates or established political parties, and the Level the Playing Field plaintiffs argue that, in effect, the FEC is letting corporations contribute to the Republican and Democratic Parties, and their presidential campaigns, when corporations fund the Commission on Presidential Debates.
David French, the recent choice of Bill Kristol to run for President as an independent, has this article at National Review, defending the idea even though he declined to be the candidate.
On June 7, the Arizona Secretary of State said the Green Party cannot be on the ballot in November for President, because the party missed the deadline for submitting the names of presidential elector candidates. At the time the decision was made, the Secretary of State did not know that in 1996, when the Libertarian Party was also late with its Arizona electors, a judge reversed the Libertarian exclusion.
On June 8, the Secretary of State’s office became aware of the 1996 decision, but says it still won’t reverse its stance, and that the Green Party will need to file a lawsuit. The 1996 case was Arizona Libertarian Party v Hull, Maricopa Superior Court, cv96-13996. The basis for the 1996 decision was that (1) the state had no interest in setting such an early deadline for presidential elector candidates; (2) the evidence showed that when the Democratic and Republican Parties miss such deadlines, they are always forgiven. Instances known to exist when the Democratic and Repubiican Parties missed such deadlines are from Florida, Indiana, Iowa, and Texas.
The Arizona Green Party chose presidential elector candidates in March 2016, but due to a slip-up, didn’t submit their names by last week’s deadline.
On June 8, the Pennsylvania Senate State Government Committee passed SB 495. This is Senator Mike Folmer’s bill to ease ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates. It says that if a party has registration of at least one-twentieth of 1% of the state total, it would be a qualified minor party, and would nominate by convention. The idea is based on Delaware’s law. For independent candidates, the bill lowers the number of signatures from 2% of the winning candidate’s vote in the last election, to exactly 2,000 for statewide office, and lesser numbers for other office.