The Arizona Secretary of State has issued a new registration tally. See it here. No Labels Party registration continues to climb, and the party now has enough registered voters to maintain its qualified status, regardless of whether it receives any particular vote, or even if it doesn’t run any candidates in 2024. The law requires two-thirds of 1% of the state registration total for a party to remain on the ballot (as an alternative to a vote test) and No Labels now has enough members. Thanks to Richard Grayson for this news.

James A. “Jim” Hedges died March 4, 2024, at the age of 85. Here is an obituary. He was the editor of the Prohibition Party’s quarterly newsletter, “The National Prohibitionist” for decades. He was also elected Township Auditor several times as a Prohibition Party nominee, becoming the only person to win partisan office in his party in many decades.

He was also the Prohibition Party nominee for president in 2016, and he polled 5,617 votes, the highest presidential vote total for the party since 1988, when Earl Dodge had polled 8,002. In Arkansas County, Arkansas, Hedges placed third, with 133 votes (2.14%), ahead of Gary Johnson (the Libertarian nominee, who placed third nationally). Hedges was also the Prohibition Party representative to the board of the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE). He was well-informed about ballot access laws. It is probably no exaggeration to say that if he had never lived, the Prohibition Party would no longer exist.

On March 8, the Idaho legislature passed HB 661, which moves the independent presidential petition deadline from March 15 to August 1. The bill had passed the House on March 1. The vote was unanimous in both houses.

This only happened because of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s pending lawsuit against the old deadline. The judge had said oprally at a status conference that he would strike down the March deadline unless the legislature quickly passed the bill. Thanks to Rick Lass for this news.