Currently, North Dakota allows primary candidates to get on the primary ballot by two methods: (1) win substantial support at a party endorsements meeting; or (2) petition for a place on the ballot.
Two bills have been introduced to alter these methods. HB 1446 would eliminate the party endorsements choice; HB 1424 would strengthen the party endorsements method, by providing that if anyone gets a majority at such meetings, no primary is needed. See this story.
Terence T. McDonald, editor of the New Jersey Monitor, here scolds the New Jersey legislature for making the petition requirement increase effective immediately, after petitions for the 2025 state election had already started to circulate.
McDonald doesn’t discuss the effect of the petition change on minor parties. No New Jersey general news source has pointed out in recent years that the New Jersey definition of a qualified party is so strict, no group other than the Democratic and Republican Parties has complied with it since it was created in 1920. So although it is true that the general election petition requirements for independents and the nominees of unqualified parties are still relatively low, the coverage isn’t balanced.
On February 7, various Texas minor parties and independent candidates asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case against the Texas ballot access laws. See the filing here. Miller v Nelson, 24-854.
On February 7, U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin of Massachusetts heard arguments in State of New Jersey v Trump, 1:25cv-10139. There is no opinion yet. Here is a news story about the case. This is the third case involving the definition of birthright citizenship. The other two are in U.S. District Courts in Washington and Maryland.
Five Washington State Senators have introduced SB 5225, which requires primary candidates to submit a petition along with the 1% (of the annual salary) filing fee. Currently candidates for Congress and partisan state office don’t need signatures to get on the primary ballot.
The bill requires 1,000 signatures for statewide office; 750 for U.S. House; and 500 for state legislature. Here is the text.
Washington has a top-two system, and there are always many candidates on the primary ballot for Governor and U.S. Senator. Sometimes there are as many as thirty.
The sponsors are four Democrats (Marko Liias, T’wina Nobles, Marcus Riccelli, and Sharon Shewmake) and one Republican (Drew MacEwen).
