According to this story, 43 independent candidates for the South Carolina legislature submitted petitions by the July 16 deadline. South Carolina has probably never had this many signatures to check in any one election year, at any time in the past. South Carolina doesn’t have the initiative or referendum or recall, and candidates running in major party primaries don’t need petitions.

Independent candidates rarely qualify in South Carolina. No independent candidate for either House of Congress has ever appeared on a South Carolina government-printed ballot. Independent candidates for legislature need petitions of 5% of the number of registered voters, which is so severe, few candidates even attempt it. However, this year is different, because approximately 250 candidates who had expected to run in major party primaries were kept off the June 12 primary ballot, and therefore many decided to become independent candidates. In South Carolina, independent candidates appear on the ballot as “By petition” instead of “independent.”

Neil Reiff, former General Counsel to the Democratic National Committee, has this article in Campaigns and Elections. He makes the case that the McCain-Feingold law imposes too many obstacles to state political parties, as well as local political parties, and that many restrictions in the McCain-Feingold law that injure such parties should be repealed. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s Electionlawblog for the link.

The Washington Post has this fairly lengthy article about the Constitution Party’s presidential nominee, former Congressman Virgil Goode. The story focuses on his popularity in central Virginia.