On June 23, U.S. District Court Judge Marcia S. Krieger, a Bush Jr. appointee, upheld Colorado’s law that bars independent candidates (for office other than President) from being on the November ballot if they were a member of an qualified party at any time in the year before the filing deadline.  Here is the 25-page opinion.

This means that the two plaintiff-candidates, La Plata County Commissioner Joelle Riddle, and state legislator Kathleen Curry, cannot run for re-election as independent candidates this year unless they run as write-in candidates.

Colorado eased the ballot access restriction this year, but made the change effective next year.  Riddle changed her registration from “Democratic” to “independent” on August 21, 2009, and Curry changed her registration from “Democratic” to “independent” on December 28, 2009.  The new law, effective 2011, sets the prior affiliation period on January 1 of the election year, so if the new law were effective now, both candidates could be on the ballot this November as independent candidates.

The Alabama Secretary of State has validated the Constitution Party’s petition to be ballot-qualified in the U.S. House First District.  The party will now be able to nominate David Walter for that seat.

He will be the first minor party candidate for Congress on the Alabama ballot since 2002.

Georgia’s newly-appointed State Schools Superintendent, Brad Bryant, is a Republican who wishes to run in this November’s election.  Because he was not appointed to the job until after qualifying for the Republican primary had closed, he cannot run in the Republican primary on July 20.  Georgia does not permit write-ins in partisan primaries.   Instead, he will attempt to qualify as an independent candidate.  He needs 44,089 valid signatures by July 13.

The Georgia Republican Party will help him with his petition.  The Republican who was elected to this position in 2006, Kathy Cox, resigned on May 17, after she had filed for re-election in the Republican primary.  Filing for the primary closed on April 30.  Cox’s name will continue to appear on the Republican primary ballot, but signs will be posted in polling places saying votes for her will not be counted.  Two other Republicans had filed to run against her, and one of them will be the Republican nominee.  They are John D. Barge and Richard Woods.  But the Governor, and Republican Party leaders, support Bryant.  There will also be a Democrat and a Libertarian on the November ballot for this office.

No one has ever completed a statewide independent candidate petition in Georgia for any office other than President.  The petition has been required since 1943.  Between 1943 and 1979, statewide independents needed signatures equal to 5% of the number of registered voters.  From 1979 to 1985, the requirement was 2.5%.  Since 1985 it has been 1%.  For district and county office, the requirement has been 5% since 1943.