Businessman Alex Pires will attempt to qualify for the November Delaware ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate. See this story. He is well-known enough to have already appeared on Greta Van Susteren’s Fox network interview show.

No one has ever petitioned onto the Delaware ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate. Before 1978, Delaware didn’t have procedures for independent candidates for any office. In 1976 Joseph F. McInerney, an independent candidate, sued Delaware over this flaw in its election laws, and a U.S. District Court put him on the ballot.

Pires will need 6,080 valid signatures by July 15. Delaware traditionally invalidates petitions for tiny technicalities, such as a signature that doesn’t perfectly match the signature on the voter’s registration form. Assuming he gets on the ballot, he will be listed on the far-right hand portion of the ballot, in a spot that many voters may not even notice.

According to this story in the Detroit News, the surprising failure of incumbent Congressman Thad McCotter to get on the Republican primary ballot may bring new candidates into the race. McCotter, an incumbent, is running for re-election in Michigan’s U.S. House district 11. The district contains western parts of Wayne and Oakland Counties, and is considered fairly safe for Republicans.

Because McCotter failed to get 1,000 valid signatures to appear on the August 7 primary ballot, he will probably be a write-in candidate in that primary. But according to the story, he may have difficulty winning the nomination, because there is another Republican whose name is printed on the ballot. Also, a more prominent Republican may also launch a write-in campaign. And, although two Democrats are on the Democratic primary ballot (one of them a Lyndon LaRouche supporter), the uncertainty for this seat may mean a more prominent Democrat may also enter the race and become a write-in candidate in the Democratic primary. UPDATE: according to this story, only 244 of McCotter’s 1,830 signatures were valid.

Martha Abbott, chair of the Vermont Progressive Party, will appear on the Progressive Party primary ballot in August as a candidate for Governor. The Vermont Progressive Party hasn’t had a candidate on the November ballot for Governor since 2002. Generally, the Progressive Party tends to avoid running in that race.

There is no certainty that the Progressive Party will actually have Abbott on the November ballot this year either. After she wins the primary in August, she will be free to either continue running, or withdraw. For more about Abbott, see this story from 2010.

The Progressive Party’s best showing for Governor was in 2000, when Anthony Pollina polled 9.59% of the vote in November.