The Chicago Tribune of July 10 has this op-ed by Bill Redpath, explaining and criticizing the Illinois ballot access laws.

Illinois has had one of the worst sets of ballot access laws for minor parties and independent candidates ever since 1931. And changes in the last forty years have made them worse. There have been some significant improvements in the last 40 years as well, but they were caused by court rulings, not voluntary legislative activity. Unlike most states, the Illinois legislature has not voluntarily made any improvements in over 90 years.

Here is a link to a recent article from The Atlantic on proportional representation for the US House, of which Lee Drutman of the New America Foundation is an advocate, and the different ideas of other reformers:

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2023/07/proportional-representation-house-congress/674627/

Here is his recent column in The Washington Post in defense of more political parties in the United States:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/05/more-political-parties-democracy/

And, here is a link to New America Foundation’s recently published paper titled “More Parties, Better Parties: The Case for Pro-Parties Democracy Reform, in which Drutman calls for Fusion as short and medium term goal and PR as a long-term goal:

https://www.newamerica.org/political-reform/reports/more-parties-better-parties/

The Idaho Republican Party is starting to plan a presidential caucus in March 2024. The legislature adjourned earlier this year without restoring the presidential primaries. Democrats are also planning a caucus. The Democratic Party hopes the legislature will restore primaries when it convenes in January 2024, but that is cutting it close.