The Party for Socialism and Liberation hopes to qualify its presidential candidate, Gloria La Riva, in 15 or 16 states. If the party qualifies for the ballot in 15 states, that would be the highest number of states that any socialist party has qualified in, for president, since 1988. In 1988, the Socialist Workers Party placed its presidential candidate on the ballot in 15 states plus D.C.

Generally, the party name on ballots will be “Socialism and Liberation”. The 15 states the party hopes to qualify in are Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. All these states will print the party label on the ballot except for Mississippi and Tennessee, which will just print “independent”.

The party also hopes that its presidential candidate will win the nomination of the Peace & Freedom Party in California.

The Maine Green Party held its state convention May 17-18 in Yarmouth. The Maine Green Party has the right to send 44 delegates to the national convention, a larger delegation than any other state Green Party except for the California Green Party. Presidential candidates Jesse Johnson and Kat Swift attended the convention. Cynthia McKinney did not attend, but her campaign was represented by Bruce Gagnon of the Maine Green Party.

The Maine Green Party had held caucuses in February, and Cynthia McKinney had won the most support at those caucuses. However, the delegates chosen by the May state convention will be free to vote for whom they wish in Chicago in July. The delegate slate is still being assembled.

On May 15, the Memphis, Tennessee Charter Commission decided to ask the voters whether they wish to use Instant-Runoff Voting for city elections. The Charter Commission has the power to suggest various changes to the Memphis Charter, and added IRV to the list of proposals that will be considered by the voters in November. Other cities that will be voting on using IRV in their own elections in November are Los Angeles, St. Paul, and Glendale, Arizona. Thanks to Rob Richie for this news.