On July 22, some Florida Republican officials sued the Secretary of State, to force the Secretary of State to remove Libertarian Peter Jassenoff from the ballot. The challengers say Jassenoff paid his $10,440 filing fee with a check from his personal checking account, instead of from a checking account designated as a campaign finance checking account. The case is Republican Party of Florida v Jassenoff and Byrd, Leon County, 2026CA-1503.
On July 21, a third federal lawsuit was filed against the new Louisiana ballot access procedures for independent and minor party candidates who are running for U.S. Senate. Carpenter v Landry, m.d., 3:26cv-791. The plaintiff is an independent voter. The new law requires him to have completed a petition of 2,500 signatures by January 14. No one can sign who is registered into a qualified party.
All three cases are pro se, meaning the cases are filed by the plaintiffs themselves, without an attorney being involved. This new case, filed by Chuck Carpenter, does a good job of highlighting the unconstitutional early petition deadline. The other two cases are those filed by Jamie LaBranche in the middle district, and Jon Hyers in the eastern district. The two older cases have been moving slowly.
Here is the Carpenter complaint.
On July 23, a 3-judge U.S. District Court refused to enjoin Tennessee’s new U.S. House districts. The legislature had drawn new districts in May 2026, to split Memphis into three districts so that Republicans would almost certainly gain a seat. Sherman v Hargett, m.d., 3:26cv-616. Here is the decision. It is not signed. The three judges on the panel are John Nalbandian and William Campbell (Trup appointees) and Gregory Stivers (an Obama appointee).
The Hartford Courant has this op-ed by David J. Reynolds, criticizing Connecticut ballot access laws, especially the laws that pertain to getting on a primary ballot.
On July 22, an Iowa state trial court heard cases involving whether two Libertarian congressional candidates should be on the ballot in November. Both cases involve the names of the candidates. See this story.
