On June 24, Illinois independent gubernatorial candidate Collin Corbett won his fight to stay on the ballot in Illinois. The challenge to his petition was withdrawn. See this story.
If Corbett had not obtained a place on the ballot, Illinois would have had a Democratic-Republican monopoly for all statewide offices for the first time since 1966.
This story says that two of the three independent candidates who petitioned to get on the ballot for U.S. House in the Illinois 4th district are unlikely to remain on the ballot.
On June 22, a New Mexico state trial court refused to enjoin the independent petition requirement of 2% of the last gubernatorial vote. Miyagishima v Toulouse Oliver. See this story. The case had been filed by Ken Miyagishima, an independent candidate for Governor.
He presented evidence that no statewide independent petition has ever succeeded in New Mexico, except for three independent presidential petitions. He also pointed out that in 2019, the legislature had lowered the presidential independent petition to one-half of 1%, and even then, no independent presidential candidate qualified in 2020, and only one did in 2024. He will seek declaratory relief, so the case is not over.
New Mexico has the nation’s fourth highest non-presidential statewide independent petition requirement. The only states that are more severe, on a percentage basis, are Alabama, Montana and Wyoming.
Last year President Trump issued an executive order to alter the federal postcard registration forms, so as to require applicants to attach documentary proof of citizenship. On June 24, U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper, an Obama appointee, declared that order to be unconstitutional. State of California v Trump, U.S.. District Court, Massachusetts, 1:25cv-10810. The case had been filed by nineteen states. The order says that only Congress and/or the states have the authority to make such changes. Here is the Opinion.
The President’s order had already been enjoined last year, so it wasn’t in effect.
On June 24, John Morgan, a wealthy attorney in Orlando, Florida, announced the winning entry in his contest for a new party name. The choice is “Common Ground Party”. See this story.
