Washington state has 123 legislative seats up for election in November 2022. Of those, there is a Republican-Democratic contest in only 71 races. In the remaining 52 races, either there is only one person on the ballot, or there are two candidates from the same party, or (in six races) there is a major party nominee and an independent candidate.

By contrast, in 2020, when there were also 123 seats up, there were only 33 races without a Democratic-Republican contest. The main difference between the two years is that Democrats are in so many fewer races this year than in 2020. Among the 2020 House races this year, there is no Democrat in 23 races, out of a total of 98 House races.

The Albany Times-Union has this story about the New York Libertarian Party’s ballot access lawsuit in state court. The case was argued in the State Supreme Court, Appellate Division, on September 8. The article was published in advance of the hearing, so it doesn’t describe how the hearing went. Sharpe v New York State Board of Elections, 535599.

Also, see this Spectrum1 news story about the lawsuit.

For a few months, Ohio has had an independent state representative, Shayla Davis. She was appointed to the seat earlier this year. On August 9, the Secretary of State removed her from the November ballot. He ruled that she isn’t a true independent, because she has been too closely associated with the Democratic Party. Otherwise she would have been on the ballot, because her petition was valid.

Ohio law on who can qualify as an independent candidate is hopelessly vague. Ohio does not have registration by party, yet bars independent candidates if they have too much connection to a ballot-qualified party. This often leads to highly arbitrary decisions.