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.
Mexico held elections for president and congress on June 2, 2024. Seven parties were on the ballot for president. Fusion is prmitted in Mexico. Three parties nominated Claudia Sheinbaum, and three other parties nominated Xochitl Galvez. A third candidate was nominated by one party. The winner received 61.18% of the national vote. See this wikipedia article.
On June 10, the Forward Party asked the California Secretary of State to tally how many people register into it. New parties in California generally get on the ballot by taking this step, and then persuading about 75,000 people to register into the party.
The Forward Party had not previously taken this step in California, because it considered itself aligned with the Common Sense Party, and the Common Sense Party was doing its own registration drive. But the Common Sense Party registration drive stalled out before it had obtained even half of the needed registrations.
At the 2024 Libertarian convention, the first ballot had Michael Rectenwald in the lead, although no one had a majority. This was the first Libertarian presidential convention since 2004 in which the first-place finisher did not win the nomination. Chase Oliver, who consistently placed second until the final two ballots, won the nomination on the seventh ballot.
The last Libertarian convention for which the first ballot leader did not win the nomination was the 2004 convention. Aaron Russo had the most votes in the first round, but eventually Michael Badnarik received the nomination.
For the two major parties, the last time the candidate who received the most votes on the first ballot did not win the nomination was the 1952 Democratic convention. Estes Kefauver had the most votes in the first round, but Adlai Stevenson won on the third round.
For the Republican Party, the last instance was 1940, when Thomas Dewey lead in the first three ballots but did not get the nomination. Wendell Willkie won it on the sixth ballot.
As already noted, on June 13 the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion in FDA v Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, cutting back on standing for associations that say they have standing because the government policy they are opposing causes them to spend more money.
The very next day, June 14, Tennessee filed a notice of supplemental authority in Ashe v Hargett, m.d., 3:23cv-1256. This is the lawsuit filed by voting rights organizations against the Tennessee law that requires signs on primary day at the polls, warning voters they must not choose the primary ballot of a party they aren’t loyal to. The notice of Supplemental Authority filed by the state argues that this case must be dismissed because the plaintiffs don’t have standing.
