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.

This Philadelphia Inquirer editorial applauds the court decision of July 24 that struck down the state’s ballot access laws for minor parties and independent candidates. The editorial urges the state not to appeal.

In late 2011, Texas voters who wanted to create a new party filed the “Make America Great Again” name in time for the state’s deadline. Texas law says a party that wants to petition in an election year must register the name of the party by the end of the odd year before the election. In late 2011, people who wanted Donald Trump to run as an independent candidate in 2012 took the precaution of registering that name. When informed that Texas law only permits three words in a party name, they amended it to “Make America Great”.

Now that Trump is actively seeking the Republican nomination, his campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again.” See his campaign web page here. Also he had that slogan on his hat when he visited Laredo, Texas, earlier this month.