On August 22, the New Mexico Supreme Court heard Barrie v Duran, 33755. The Court then ruled that the Secretary of State was wrong to have kept Jon Barrie off the November ballot (as the Independent American Party nominee for U.S. Senate) on the grounds that he wasn’t a registered member of the party that nominated him at the time of the Governor’s Proclamation. Here is the two-page order.

As to the other issue in the case, whether Barrie had enough valid signatures, the court sent that back to the lower court to resolve, but also said perhaps the candidate and the Secretary of State themselves can come to an agreement on how many signatures are valid. See this news story. The decision is not yet posted to the Court’s web page.

The Arizona Secretary of State’s office has not yet said how many valid signatures were submitted by proponents of a top-two open primary. However, preliminary data from most of the counties suggest that there may not be enough. Also, apparently some of the petitions were gathered by circulators who don’t live in Arizona and who did not register with the Secretary of State. Arizona permits out-of-state circulators, but requires that out-of-state circulators register with the Secretary of State before working. See this story. Also see this story.

Nine presidential petitions have been submitted to the Minnesota Secretary of State. If they are all valid, then Minnesota will have eleven presidential candidates on the November ballot. In Minnesota, as in half the states, independent candidates are free to choose a partisan label other than just the word “independent.”

The petitions are for the presidential nominees of these parties: Constitution, Grassroots, Green, Justice, Libertarian, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Socialist, and Socialist Workers. Also one independent presidential candidate. Dean Morstad, filed.

Minnesota had eleven presidential candidates on the November 1996 ballot. Thanks to Jim Ivey for this news.