The Secret Service began protecting some presidential candidates in 1968. The first minor party or independent presidential candidates who ever received such protection were John G. Schmitz, 1972 nominee of the American/American Independent Parties, and Dr. Benjamin Spock, 1972 nominee of the Peoples Party. Eugene McCarthy received such protection in 1976. John Anderson received it in 1980.

Ross Perot did not want such protection in 1992 nor in 1996. He had his own security and did not want the federal government to constantly know where he was.

Thanks to Eric Garris, Darcy Richardson, Theresa Amato, and Clay Mulford for help with this post.

On July 16, the North Carolina State Board of Elections approved the petition of the We the People Party (which has nominated Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.), but denied the petition of the Justice for All Party (which supports Cornel West). See this story.

Justice for All was denied because some voters alleged that the petitioners were making inaccurate statements about the purpose of the petition. Thanks to Bobby G. for this news.

The Georgia Secretary of State has posted some instructions on how minor parties can comply with SB 189, the new law that says if a minor party is on the ballot for president in at least 20 states and territories, it can notify the Georgia Secretary of State and the presidential nominee of that party will automatically be on in Georgia.

Here is the one-page set of rules, which says the documentation from other states and territories (that have presidential electors) is due August 23. This is only a regulation, not a law, and the Secretary of State is free to revise it. In practice, the deadline is too early. Petitions for presidential candidates in five states are not due until early September. Therefore, the Georgia rules ought to have a deadline in early September as well.

UOCAVA, the federal law that tells states to mail postal ballots to overseas voters, does not require the ballots to be sent until 45 days before the general election. That means the ballots need not be sent out until late September.