On July 29, the Pennsylvania minor parties that had won a U.S. District Court order on June 30, 2016, lowering the number of signatures for statewide petitions, filed a notice of appeal to the Third Circuit. The only issue for the appeal is that the U.S. District Court order had invented a county distribution requirement for state office, for minor party and independent candidate statewide petitions. The parties’ brief is due September 26.

County distribution requirements for statewide general election candidates have completely ceased to exist in the United States, so it was odd that the U.S. District Court had included such requirements in his otherwise good court order of June 30. There are twenty court decisions striking down county distribution requirements for statewide petitions of all types. They are based on the principle that, because counties are unequal in population, county distribution requirements give more power to rural areas than urban areas. The Third Circuit case number is 16-3266. The plaintiffs include the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties.

On August 29, the Socialist Party filed paperwork to become a qualified party in Florida. The party was last on the Florida ballot in 2012 and then ceased to be recognized. The party is experienced in the process of becoming re-qualified.

On August 29, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to order Ohio to print “Libertarian” on the ballot next to Gary Johnson’s name. The order says that Justice Elena Kagan had referred the matter to all the justices. As a result, if Johnson receives more than 3% of the vote for President in Ohio, the party will not remain on the ballot in 2018 and 2020. If “Libertarian” were on the ballot next to his name, and he received 3% or more, the party would be on the Ohio ballot for the next four years.