Putnam County, New York Republican nominees running for partisan county office have petitioned to list themselves as Libertarian nominees as well. See this story. However, the Libertarian Party does not support them. New York does not provide name protection for unqualified parties. See this story.
Jonathan Makeley is the Prohibition Party’s nominee for Governor of New York this year. He will not attempt to get on the ballot, but will ask for write-in votes. Here is his website.
The last time the Prohibition Party nominated a candidate for Governor of New York was in 1926, when the nominee polled .73% of the vote.
Use this link to view a picture of a sample ballot from the District of Columbia. It is for the Democratic primary of June 16. This June 2026 primary election is the first time ranked choice voting has been used in D.C.
On May 18, the Kansas Secretary of State removed No Labels Party from the ballot and said the party’s 2026 nominees will not appear on the ballot. He also converted all the party’s registrants into independents, without even advising them of the change. On May 28, the party’s state chair filed a lawsuit to keep the party alive. Miller v Schwab, Shawnee County District Court, 5N2026cv510. Here is the party’s brief.
The Kansas Secretary of State acted as he did because the party’s former officer asked him to remove the party. That former officer is now a registered Republican. The current officers were elected at a state convention earlier this year.
The Alaska primary ballot for U.S. Senate this year will include both incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan, and another candidate named Dan J. Sullivan. Both will have “Republican” next to their names.
The problem of two candidates for a single office with the same name is an old problem, and some states even have laws to deal with the problem. For example, in California, candidates with the same name are given a number placed on the ballot in parentheses.
In 1930, opponents of Nebraska U.S. Senator George Norris recruited another candidate named George Norris to run against him in the Republican primary. But the second George Norris failed to qualify for the primary ballot. The incident received a lot of attention, and it caused confusion in the oral argument in Jenness v Fortson, in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1971. Chief Justice William Burger mentioned the problem, but his memory was faulty. He thought the second George Norris tried to qualify as an independent candidate in the general election. When the decision came out, avoiding “deception” was listed as one of the three state interests in having severe petition requirements for independent and minor party candidates. There had been nothing in the written briefs about “deception”, but Burger’s mistake ended up inside the opinion. Jenness v Fortson upheld Georgia’s 5% petition, and is the most harmful ballot access decision ever issued by the Supreme Court.
