This Cincinnati Enquirer article about minor party and independent presidential candidates in Ohio quotes Frank LaRose, Ohio Secretary of State, as saying his office will have finished checking the validity of the No Labels party petition “by July 2024.” The petition was submitted in the spring of 2023. It is unparalleled that any state take so long to check the validity of a petition for political party recognition.

The requirement is 40,345 valid signatures. The last time any group did the party petition in Ohio was 2018, when the Libertarian Party qualified. The state checked that petition in a matter of weeks.

Texas does not have the statewide initiative or referendum for state laws or constitutional amendments, but it does have provision for a non-binding referendum to be placed on partisan primary ballots. Section 172.088 of the Texas election code requires signatures equal to 5% of that party’s primary vote for Governor, in the last gubernatorial primary. Currently for Republicans, that requires 97,709 signatures.

A group has been circulating a referendum petition intended for the March 2024 Republican primary ballot, that asks if Texas should secede from the U.S. The petition deadline is December 1. It is not clear if the group got enough signatures, but even if they didn’t, the state party committee could also vote to put that referendum on the Texas Republican primary ballot. Thanks to Mike Drucker for this news.

This case involves the constitutionality of Texas’ ballot access laws. The Plaintiffs initially filed a lawsuit in US District Court, but lost, except for the issue of electronic signatures, which the judge ruled that the State of Texas had to allow.

The State of Texas filed an appeal in the Fifth Circuit on November 1, 2023 on the portion of the case that it lost, and a response was filed by the initial Plaintiffs in this case on December 1, 2023.

Here is the Brief of the Defendants-Appellants (State of Texas) that was filed on November 1, 2023.

Here is the Brief of Plaintiffs-Appellees (several minor parties) that was filed on December 1, 2023.