Rocky De La Fuente, independent presidential candidate, has recently sued Oklahoma over its petition requirement for independent presidential candidates. The law requires 40,047 valid signatures by July 15. No one has completed this type of petition in Oklahoma since 1992, when Ross Perot did it. Oklahoma is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot in any of his presidential runs.

The original De La Fuente case against Oklahoma was filed on May 31, but it sued the wrong defendant. An amended complaint, suing the correct defendant, was filed on June 14. The case is De La Fuente v Ziriax, w.d., 5:16cv-583.

Constitutional election law cases filed by minor parties or independent candidates are pending in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia.

The New York legislature adjourned for the year on June 17, without having passed even the simplest bills to improve the appearance of the ballot, which is one of the most confusing ballots in the United States. There were at least twelve such bills: A3218, A5622, A5729, A3389, A4147, A5306, A5729, S2154, S2329, S2841, S3953, S7086. They increased the font size for the names of candidates, provided for rotation of names, provided that the ballot could expand to more than a single piece of paper, eliminated party emblems, and made other design improvements.

Also, the legislature didn’t pass any bills to eliminate the absurd characteristic that New York has three partisan primaries in presidential election years: a presidential primary in April, a congressional primary in June, and a state & local office primary in September.

Nor did the legislature pass any bill to ease the strict deadline for voters to switch parties, which is in the year before the primary.

On the other hand, no bill making ballot access worse passed either.

Charleston, West Virginia Mayor Danny Jones has changed his party registration from “Republican” to “independent”, according to this story. He has been elected Mayor four times in partisan elections. The last re-election for him was in 2015. He says he will not run for yet another term in the future. He also says he expects to vote for Gary Johnson in November.