On November 12, the Tennessee Libertarian Party filed this opening brief in the Sixth Circuit in Lewis v Hargett, 24-5856. This is the case that challenges the Tennessee petition requirement for groups to qualify as a party. The law is so severe, no one has complied with it since 1968. It requires 56,083 signatures.

Because the petition for a party is so difficult, minor parties always run their nominees using the independent candidate procedure. But then they don’t have their party name on the ballot next to their nominees. This causes voter confusion, because the label “independent” is incorrect, and doesn’t give the voter any guidance about the actual party name. The U.S. Supreme Court has long recognized that voter confusion is an evil.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., was on the ballot in 31 jurisdictions. In 27 of them he placed third. The only ones in which he did not place third were four states in which Jill Stein placed third: Connecticut, Louisiana, Michigan, and New Jersey.

On November 5, independent candidate Greg Kidd,, running for Nevada’s U.S. House seat, 2nd district, polled 36.05%. This appears to be the strongest showing for any U.S. House candidate this year who wasn’t a Democratic or Republican. There was no Democrat in the race. The 2nd district includes Reno. See this story about Kidd. He is a wealthy tech investor.