This Mother Jones story details how a registered Republican who worked for the party during 2013 petitioned to get two Green Party members on the Green Party primary ballot, for New York’s U.S. House District 23. Neither petition succeeded, because of various technical flaws. If either petition had succeeded, there would have been a Green on the November ballot for that office.

New York law permits petitioning for a candidate before that candidate has signed any declaration of candidacy. However, when the petition is filed, the candidate must be notified and has four days to withdraw. In this case, neither of the two Green Party members were aware of the petition before the expiration of the withdrawal period.

According to this story, three independent candidates for U.S. Senate have enough valid signatures in South Dakota. The latest entry is Clayton Walker, who submitted 3,500 signatures. The requirement was 3,171 signatures. Walker’s high validity rate is probably because he collected virtually all his signtures door-to-door. He estimates he knocked on 10,000 doors, almost entirely during winter, to get his 3,500 signatures. Much of the time, he worked while snow was falling, and he says many of his petition sheets were still wet when he submitted them.

This will be the first U.S. Senate election in South Dakota history since 1924 with more than two independent candidates on the ballot. Back in 1924, statewide independents only needed 200 signatures.

On May 1, the Rhode Island House unanimoously passed HB 8072, to eliminate the straight-ticket device starting in 2016. Now the bill goes to the Senate. Thanks to Ken Block for this news.