Greg Ballard, who had previously announced his independent candidacy for Indiana Secretary of State, will use the partisan label “Lincoln Party”. That way, assuming he gets on the ballot and polls at least 2%, a party with that name will automatically become ballot-qualified. See this story.
Ballard is a former Mayor of Indianapolis. When he was Mayor, he was elected as a Republican.
Although no one qualified to appear on the New Mexico Republican primary ballot for U.S. Senate this year, the Republican Party is planning to nominate someone by write-in votes in the primary, which is in early June. See this story.
A previous blog post said that write-ins are not allowed in New Mexico primaries for U.S. Senate, but that was incorrect.
On March 9, the Idaho House passed HB 638. It restores presidential primaries, but requires a filing fee for presidential candidates. The bill makes no provision for presidential candidates who can’t afford the fee. The bill sets the date of the primaries in March.
The March 9 Chicago Tribune has this editorial, condemning the Illinois ballot access laws for independent and minor party candidates.
On March 5, the Oklahoma House Rules Committee passed HB 2425. It moves the non-presidential primary from June to early March. The presidential primary would then be combined with the primary for other offices. This is a drastic change. Because the date of the non-presidential primary is tied to the deadlines for non-presidential independent candidates. The deadline for non-presidential independents (who don’t need a petition) would be close to New Year’s Day of the election year.
The bill does not change the petition deadline for new parties, which would remain February 28. New parties would have missed the primary, so they would nominate by convention, but their candidates would have needed to file a declaration of candidacy on or around January 1.
