Florida Democrats Suggest they Want to Challenge the Ballot Qualification of the Florida Reform Party

This story says Florida Democratic Party officials are asking the Secretary of State to produce documents related to the ballot status of the Reform Party.  This year, the Reform Party has nominated Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for president.

When the Florida Reform Praty nominated Ralph Nader in 2004, Democrats sued to remove the Reform Party from the ballot.  However, the Reform Party won the lawsuit in State Supreme Court.

U.S. Supreme Court Sets Conference Date for Indiana and Georgia Ballot Access Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Rust v Morales, 23-1369, at its September 30 conference.  This is the Indiana case over how candidates get on a primary ballot.  The law lets the state exclude candidates who did not vote in the last primary held for that party.  The plaintiff had wanted to run as a Republican for U.S. Senate this year, but he was excluded.

Also on September 30, the Court will also consider whether to hear Bell v Raffensperger, 23-7684.  This is the Georgia case filed by an independent candidate for the legislature, Andrew W. Bell.  It concerns the lack of due process when Georgia checks petition signatures.

Comparing Historical Dates on When Each Major Party Had its Presumptive Ticket Settled

It seems likely Democrats will have a presumptive vice-presidential nominee by August 7.  That is historically rather late in the process, but not too unusual.

The ticket that took the longest to be presumptively known, in history, was the Republican ticket in 2008.  John McCain didn’t express his preference for a v-p, Sarah Palin, until August 29.

Second-latest was the Democratic ticket of 2008, when Barack Obama didn’t announce Joe Biden until August 23.