Jill Stein has met the legal requirement for primary season matching funds in nine states: California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. She needs eleven more states to be eligible.
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November 20 was the deadline for presidential candidates to file in New Hampshire. Thirty Republicans filed, and twenty-eight Democrats filed. By contrast, in 2012, 31 Republicans filed and 14 Democrats filed. Candidates need no petition; they merely pay a fee of $1,000.
The New Hampshire Secretary of State encourages many candidates to file, because the more candidates file, the more revenue the state receives. Gardner even sometimes telephones lesser-known presidential candidates and encourages them to file.
Yet when the Libertarian Party sued New Hampshire over ballot access, the state claimed that the restrictive rules were needed to keep the ballot from being “cluttered.” In 2014, New Hampshire was one of five states with no minor party or independent candidates for any statewide office. The others were Alabama, California, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania (and Washington had no statewide offices up).
Here is a link to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s page. Under “election information” click on “candidates filed.”
On November 20, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed this 36-page brief in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, 15-4270. It asks for expedited treatment, because the Ohio primary petition deadlines are due December 16, 2015.
On November 20, Georgia Greens are holding two rallies against Georgia ballot access laws that relate to minor party and independent candidates. See this story.
NBC has offered twelve minutes of free time to John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, George Pataki, and Jim Gilmore. They may choose November 27 or November 28. See this story. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.