On April 10, Hugh Lytle defeated one of the challenges to his spot on the ballot as a gubernatorial candidate in the Arizona Independent Party primary. Hourihan v Lytle, Maricopa Superior Court cv2026-014149. The challenger had first charged that Lytle didn’t have enough valid signatures on his primary petition, but he presented evidence that he did have enough. Then the challenger argued that some of his petitioners were not eligible to circulate because they were felons, but the challenger did not provide any evidence of that.

Another challenge to Lytle’s ballot access is pending. He put his business address on the petition instead of his home address. That case will probably be decided early next week.

On April 9, the Missouri House passed HB 2387/2480, which restores presidential primaries. Missouri had repealed its presidential primaries in 2022. Here is the bill text. The primaries would be on the first Tuesday in March. Candidates would get on the ballot by paying a filing fee to their party. The party would set the amount of the fee.

Assuming the bill passes the Senate and becomes law, it is likely the Libertarian Party will have its own Missouri presidential primary in 2028.

On April 9, the Alabama Senate unanimously passed HB 67. It lowers the cost of the registered voters list from approximately $37,000, to exactly $1,000. This is good news for future petition drives in Alabama. Groups and candidates face severe petition requirements in Alabama, but at least they will now be far more likely to be able to check the validity of their petitions before submitting them.

The Senate vote was unanimous.