On December 28, Rocky De La Fuente submitted approximately 18,000 signatures, hoping to get on the Democratic presidential primary ballot in North Carolina. The law says candidates discussed in the news media are put on the ballot automatically. The North Carolina Board of Elections refused to put him on the ballot under that provision, so he used the alternate method of obtaining 10,000 valid signatures. It is believed he is the first presidential primary candidate in North Carolina history to attempt this method.

The signatures were all gathered in eleven days. So far, according to the North Carolina Board of Elections web page, 8,384 signatures have been checked, and only 4,423 of them were valid, for a validity rate of 52.8%. If that trend continues, he will fall short by approximately 500 signatures. In that case, he may be able to show that the county election boards did a poor job of checking the signatures.

On December 27, John McAfee became a dues-paying member of the Libertarian Party. He lives in Alabama. He had said last week that he will seek the party’s presidential nomination.

The Green Mountain Party was formed earlier this year to influence politics and government in Vermont. It is fiscally conservative. Vermont has two methods for newly-qualifying parties to get on the ballot. If they show they are organized in any ten towns by the end of an odd year, they are ballot-qualified and can nominate by convention with no need for petitions.

Or, they can place nominees on the November ballot by petition. The nominees will have the party name on the ballot next to their name. Those petitions are due in August of the election year. The Green Mountain Party will not meet the deadline for having committees in ten towns, but it is free to use the petition method later this year if it wishes.