Virginia is holding legislative elections for both houses of the legislature on November 3, 2015. The only qualified parties in Virginia are the Democratic and Republican Parties. Other candidates were required to submit petitions by 7 pm, Tuesday, June 9. The Virginia State Board of Elections says a list of such candidates will be posted on its web page by June 22.

The Virginia Libertarian Party web page lists five legislative candidates who petitioned. The other two parties that usually have legislative candidates in Virginia, the Independent Green Party and the Green Party, probably also have some candidates who petitioned. If anyone knows, please comment.

On May 24, Maine LD 176 became law. The legislature had passed it on May 5 and Governor Paul LePage let it become law without signing it, but also not vetoing it. Here is the text of the law. Maine already didn’t permit out-of-staters do witness signatures being made on the petition, but now they can’t even ask voters to sign it. There is a very high probability this law is unconstitutional. Thanks to Thomas MacMillan for the news.

National Public Radio in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has this story about the pending bill in the legislature to improve ballot access. The story does not mention that the bill, SB 495, also eases petitioning for independent candidates.