On September 22, the Arizona Secretary of State wrote a letter to leaders of No Labels Party, which is a ballot-qualified party with its own primary in Arizona. The letter says that the Secretary of State will allow candidates to file for office in the party’s primary. Already Tyson Draper has filed preliminary paperwork to run in the No Labels primary for U.S. Senate, and Richard Grayson has done so for Corporation Commissioiner.

No Labels does not want any candidates for office other than presidential electors. However, Arizona is in the Ninth Circuit, and the Ninth Circuit ruled in 2008 that a ballot-qualified party with its own primary can’t disallow anyone registered in that party from filing in that party’s primary, regardless of the wishes of the party. In Alaskan Independence Party v State, 545 F.3d 1173, the Alaskan Independence Party wanted to block Daniel DeNardo from running for U.S. Senate. The party said that DeNardo did not support the party, and furthermore insisted on putting nonsense claims in the state Voters Handbook (which allows candidates to submit a statement; the booklet is then sent to all registered voters). One of DeNardo’s claims was that the world’s largest cocaine ring was being run out of the Anchorage Law Library. But the party lost the case.

The Ninth Circuit ruling conflicts with several rulings from the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit has ruled that parties can block candidates from their primaries. Here is an article about the Arizona ruling. It will be interesting to see if No Labels brings a lawsuit. Thanks to Richard Grayson for the link.

On September 28, a U.S. District Court Magistrate in West Virginia recommended that no Temporary Restraining Order be issued in Castro v Warner, s.d., 2:23cv-598. This is one of the cases filed by John Anthony Castro, a Republican candidate for president, to prevent former President Donald Trump from appearing on various Republican presidential primary ballots.

The magistrate says that Castro has not provided evidence that he is being harmed by keeping Trump on the ballot. Castro argues that more campaign contributions and future votes would be available to him if Trump weren’t running, but the Magistrate says there isn’t evidence so far to support that idea. Here is the ruling, which is quite similar to a South Carolina ruling issued on September 27.

Castro is now permitted to respond. The judge will decide on whether to accept the Magistrate’s recommendation.

The magistrate also says the West Virginia Republican Party may intervene in the case.

Alaska lets candidates file for primaries very early. Already two candidates have paid the filing fee and completed the paperwork to be listed on the August 20, 2024 primary ballot for U.S. House. See them listed here on the Alaska Elections Division’s website.

One of the two early filers is Richard Grayson, whose ballot label will be “No Labels.” He is almost certainly the first candidate in any state who has already qualified to be on a 2024 ballot using that label. In Alaska, there are no party nominees, except presidential electors in the general election, so it would not be accurate to say that Grayson is the No Labels nominee. Grayson will not appear on the November 2024 ballot for U.S. House in Alaska unless he places in the top four in August.