Some weeks ago, the South Carolina Republican Party set a presidential primary filing deadline of September 30, 2015. That is easily the earliest such deadline in the nation for the 2016 presidential primaries. No other presidential primary has a deadline earlier than November 2015.

Here is the list of the 15 candidates who paid the $40,000 filing fee. Half the money goes to government election officials, and half goes to the state Republican Party. The party does not pay for any of the administration of the presidential primary.

The only candidate on the list who has not been allowed to participate in the debates so far is former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore.

The Northwest Labor Press, a print publication published twice per month in Oregon, has this story on the Working Families Party of Oregon. The story reveals that the party has a paid staff of four.

On September 28, a lower Iowa state court ruled that a particular voter, convicted in the past of a drug offense, may not register to vote. The Iowa Constitution says ex-felons who had committed an “infamous crime” lose the right to register to vote. The ACLU, which represents the voter, will ask for State Supreme Court review. See this story.