On August 1, Kansas State Senator Dennis Pyle submitted 8,894 signatures to be an independent candidate for Governor. The requirement is 5,000. See this story.
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On August 1, the Michigan state government filed this brief in Kowall v Benson, 21-1360. This is a case over whether Michigan’s term limits for legislators violate the U.S. Constitution. The lower courts had upheld Michigan’s legislative term limits. The plaintiffs then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which asked Michigan to respond.
August 1 is the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates in Missouri. Two statewide petitions were submitted, by the Green Party and by independent U.S. Senate candidate John Wood.
Wood submitted approximately 22,000 signatures. It is not known how many the Green Party submitted. The requirement is 10,000.
On August 1, the North Carolina State Board of Elections held another vote on whether to put the Green Party on the ballot. Unlike the vote of July 1, the new vote is unanimous that the party should be on the ballot. See this story.
The decision applies not only to 2022, but to 2024, because in North Carolina, when a party gets on the ballot in a midterm year, it is also automatically on the next election year, the presidential election year.
On July 29, fifteen states filed an amicus in the Eighth Circuit in Eggers v Evnen, 22-2268. The brief, organized by the Arkansas Attorney General, says that county distribution requirements for statewide initiative petitions do not violate “one person, one vote”. The other states that signed the brief are Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia.
It is odd that the brief is signed by Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina, and West Virginia, because those states don’t even have the initiative process for statewide laws.
The U.S. District Court had enjoined the Nebraska county distribution requirement.