On July 1, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed HB 194. This is an omnibus election law bill that, among other things, purports to give Ohio a ballot access law for minor parties that complies with the 2006 decision of the 6th circuit in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Blackwell. It sets a petition deadline of early February, the same deadline that was held unconstitutional in Williams v Rhodes by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1968. The Supreme Court said an early February deadline is “unreasonably early.” However, it is true that the new Ohio deadline is better than the old one of November of the year before the election.

The next step will be for the Secretary of State to decide whether the four minor parties that were ballot-qualified in 2008 and 2010 (Constitution, Green, Libertarian and Socialist) may remain on the 2012 ballot. Former Secretary of State Ted Brown, in analogous circumstances, left parties on the ballot in 1970 and 1972.

Americans Elect posts its national signature total (on ballot access petitions for itself) weekly. The total posted on July 6 is 1,501,174, which is an increase of slightly more than 70,000 since June 30. It is believed all the new signatures are from California.

The September 2011 Nevada special election, U.S. House, 2nd district, will only have four candidates on it, not eight. The Libertarian, Dale Gremban, was removed from the ballot because he lacked the needed documentation to show that his party had nominated him. Also, of the four independent candidates who submitted a petition, only one had the needed 100 valid signatures. See this story.