On July 31, Ohio Governor John Kasich spoke in Keene, New Hampshire. He was asked whether he feels general election presidential debates should include more than two candidates. He responded, “I don’t know; I haven’t thought about it.” Then he asked the questioner who the third candidate might be. The reporter who asked the question mentioned the Libertarian and Green Parties.

Kasich then started to make a reference to the 2014 gubernatorial election in Ohio, where three candidates were on the ballot, Kasich, the Democratic nominee, and the Green Party nominee. He started to say that he had some discussions about whether to include the Green, but trailed off, and said, “I don’t know. I’ll see how serious they are.” Actually, the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Ohio in 2014 was willing to include the Green Party nominee, and it was Governor Kasich who refused to include her.
Use this link to watch the video. Click on the 5th segment (the segments are listed on the right edge). The question about the general election debates starts at 52 seconds in. Thanks to Darryl Perry for the link.

On July 31, Paul Panepinto, independent candidate for Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice, filed approximately 28,000 signatures to be on the November 3, 2015 ballot. He is the first petitioning candidate for that office since 1993. The requirement is slightly more than 16,000 signatures. The requirement would be higher, except the 1993 petitioning candidate, Robert Surrick, won a lawsuit in 1993 to lower the number of signatures for statewide judicial candidates who petition in odd years.

Given the victory against the Pennsylvania system for checking signatures on July 24, it will be interesting to see if anyone challenges Panepinto’s petition. The victory in court on July 24, 2015, only applies to Constitution, Green, and Libertarian petitions.

This news story says Drew Curtis, an independent running for Governor of Kentucky in the November 3, 2015 election, already has 6,000 signatures. The deadline is August 11. He needs 5,000 and says he expects to have at least 8,500 by the deadline.

Another independent candidate, who changed his name to Gatewood Galbraith, only as 2,000 signatures so far.

The only ballot-qualified parties in Kentucky are the Democratic and Republican Parties. The only other ballot-qualified parties Kentucky has had in the last 90 years have been the American Party 1968-1972, the Anderson Coalition Party 1980-1984, and the Reform Party 1996-2000. Kentucky is the only state in which the only office that counts toward party status is President. The law requires 2%, which sounds easy but is not, because it is so rare for any party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties to poll 2% for President.