On May 11, U.S. District Court Judge William B. Shubb, a Bush Sr. appointee, refused to put Butch Ware on the California primary ballot as a Green Party candidate for Governor. Ware v Weber, e.d., 2:26cv-1643. Here is the ruling, which says nothing about the constitutional issue of requiring gubernatorial candidates to submit copies of income tax returns. The constitutional issue will be decided later. The basis for the ruling is that the primary election is already underway. Already several hundred thousand Californians have voted.

On May 11, Virginia asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the State Supreme Court order that had stopped the new U.S. House districts. Here is the filing. Scott v McDougle, 25A1240.

Illinois has the second-highest petition requirement for minor party and independent candidates for U.S. House, 5% of the last vote cast. Only Georgia is more severe. Nevertheless, four independent candidates are petitioning to get on the ballot in the 4th district in Chicago. That is because the Democratic nominee, Patty Garcia, is unpopular because of the way she got on the ballot. The incumbent, Jesus Garcia, told almost no one that he wasn’t running for re-election in the March primary, but he did tell Patty Garcia. So by the time the news spread, it was too late for other Democrats to petition for the primary ballot. Congressman Garcia was censured on the floor of the U.S. House for this behavior.

That motivated four Democrats to start independent petition drives to get on the November ballot. In addition, the Working Class Party is ballot-qualified in the Fourth District, and it is running a candidate. See this story.