On May 30, the Socialist Workers Party submitted 3,200 signatures to the New Jersey Elections Department, for the purpose of being on the November 2025 ballot for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Other parties that are still petitioning for the same election are Green and Libertarian. The requirement is 2,000. The requirement was raised from 800 earlier this year.
The petition deadline this year is June 10.
On July 26, the Forward Party of Minnesota and the Independence-Alliance Party of Minnesota are expected to approve a merger. See this IndependentPoliticalReport story.
Neither party is ballot-qualified. In Minnesota, the only parties that are on the ballot currently are Democratic-Farmer-Labor and Republican. There is a so-called “minor party” category in Minnesota law, but it doesn’t relate to ballot access.
On May 31, National Public Radio aired a story entitled, “Trump Pardons Drug Kingpins even as he Escalates U.S. Drug War Rhetoric.” The print version of the story uses the photograph of Trump speaking at the Libertarian Party national convention of last year. See it here.
On May 7, the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Campaigns & Elections passed AB 35. It lets independent candidates withdraw. However, they must pay a fee to withdraw. The fee for statewide offices is $1,000.
Last year independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. wanted to withdraw, but the law did not permit him to do that.
On May 29, the Nevada Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections passed AB 597. This is the bill that says independent voters may vote in partisan primaries.
