On February 6, the New York State Board of Elections refused to remove former President Donald Trump from the April Republican presidential primary ballot. See this story. Objectors to Trump say they will now file a lawsuit to reverse the decision. Thanks to Joe Burns for the link.
Here is a link to the Nevada presidential primary election returns.
On February 7, the Kansas House Elections Committee passed HB 2516. As amended, it increases the statewide independent petition from exactly 5,000 signtures, to 2% of the last gubernatorial vote. This would give Kansas the nation’s highest percentage requirement for presidential candidates running outside the two major parties. For 2024, the petition would be 20,818 signatures, which is 1.47% of the Kansas November 2020 presidential vote.
When the 2024 presidential percentage procedures of each state are compared with each other, this would give Kansas the most difficult requirement of any state. The fairest way to compare each state is to calculate the number of signatures in 2024, divided by the number of votes cast for president in 2020. Currently the most difficult percentage (using the easiest method to get on the ballot) is Wyoming, which stands at 1.40%. The only other states currently above 1.01% are California at 1.25%, Indiana at 1.22%, and North Dakota at 1.10%. Thanks to Eric Lund for this news.
On February 6, the South Dakota Green Party submitted its petition for party status. This is the first time the Green Party of South Dakota has ever submitted such a petition. The law was eased in 2018. It now requires a petition of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. In the past the petition was 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote.
On February 6, the California Secretary of State added the We the People Party to her list of political bodies. We the People had filed on January 17. In California, when a group wants to become a qualify party by registering approximately 75,000 members, it notifies the Secretary of State, who in turn notifies the county elections offices to tally registrants in that group. The group is a “Political Body” while it is working to qualify.
An earlier version of this post had said the Secretary of State had not added We the People to her list, but that has now been solved.
We the People is a group that supports Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for president this year. The deadline is July 2024.
