On February 16, the Connecticut Secretary of State said these names will automatically be on the Democratic presidential primary: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Republicans who qualified automatically are Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump.
Other candidates can qualify by petition. Democrats need 7,039 signatures of registered Democrats, and Republicans need 4,003 signatures of registered Republicans. See this story.
On February 16, the voter rights organizations who had sued North Carolina over its U.S. House district boundaries filed this reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court. The briefs on whether the lower court ruling should be stayed are now all complete, and the U.S. Supreme Court should rule very soon on whether the 2016 election should use the old districts, or districts that have yet to be drawn. If the stay is denied, there will almost certainly need to be a second primary in North Carolina this year, one for U.S. House, held after the new districts are in place. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.
On February 16, the Missouri House Election Committee heard the National Popular Vote Plan bills, HB 1959 and HB 2048. See this story.
According to this story, tens of thousands of Florida voters have recently switched from being independents, to being registered Republicans or Democrats, so that they can vote in the March presidential primaries. February 16 is the deadline for registration for those primaries.
Presidential primary candidates get on presidential primary ballots in New Mexico automatically if the parties believe they are bona fide candidates. Democratic candidates who will be on automatically this year are Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Republicans are Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, and Donald Trump. Fiorina was put on the list just before she withdrew, so she remains on the ballot. See this story. The primary is June 7.
Other candidates can get on the ballot with a very difficult petition drive. This year the law requires 15,676 signatures (2% of the last presidential vote in the state). Any registered voter may sign. It is possible that Rocky De La Fuente is attempting this petition. No other presidential candidate has ever qualified for the New Mexico presidential primary ballot by petition. There is a U.S. House district distribution requirement; approximately 5,200 signatures must be gathered from each of the three districts.
