The Illinois petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, is Monday, June 24.  This is one of the earliest deadlines in the nation for presidential candidates running outside the two major parties.  The Illinois deadline has been made earlier and earlier over the last 130 years.  The original deadline was, passed in 1891, was in October.  In 1931 it was moved to August.  In 1999 it was moved to June.  Governor J. B. Pritzker still hasn’t signed the bill that moves it to May.

The New Mexico petition deadline for newly qualifying parties and independent candidates is Thursday, June 27.  That deadline has also been moved earlier and earlier, over the years.  The original deadline for new parties was passed in 1917 and was “anytime before the election”, a very impractical and vague law.  In 1935 it was moved to late September.  In 1975 it was moved to early September.  In 1981 it was moved to July.  In 1995 it was moved to April.  However, that deadline was declared unconstitutional in 2013 in Constitution Party of New Mexico v Duran, so the legislature moved it to June.

On June 18, the Nevada Secretary of State determined that the Green Party petition is valid.  See this story.  The story says the Green Party hasn’t appeared on the Nevada ballot since 2008, but that is incorrect.  It was also on in 2010, but its only statewide nominee in 2010, David Curtis, running for Governor, only got .63% of the vote.  He needed 1% to keep the party on the ballot.

On June 17, the We the People Party submitted a list of its officers in Mississippi.  This is the party formed to support Robert F. Kenedy, Jr., for president.  See this story.

The Mississippi law on how a new party gets on the ballot was passed in 1890, and has never changed.  Parties qualify with no need for a petition.  They merely identify their state officers.  Back when government-printed ballots were first created, quite a few states had similar laws.