Filing for the Minnesota election has closed. The only unqualified parties that petitioned for a statewide or U.S. House race in Minnesota this year are the Socialist Workers Party, and the Independence-Alliance Party.

The four qualified parties are Democratic-Farmer-Labor, Republican, Legal Marijuana Now, and Grassroots Legalize Cannabis.

This is the first election since 2010 with no Libertarians on the statewide ballot. It is the first election since 1994 with no Green Party nominees on the statewide ballot. Here is a link to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s list of candidates. The state statewide offices are listed at the very end, following the legislative candidates.

On June 16, three of the four Alaska Democrats who had filed to run for U.S. House in the regularly-scheduled election withdrew their names from the ballot. This is to enhance the chances of the party having one and only one candidate in the August primary. See this story.

On June 15, U.S. District Court Judge Allen C. Winsor, a Trump appointee, struck down the Florida law that makes it illegal for someone outside Florida to contribute more than $3,000 to a committee that is trying to qualify an initiative for the ballot. ACLU of Florida v Byrd, n.d., 4:21cv-190.

Judge Winsor had earlier enjoined the original law. The original law applied the cap on contributions to all persons, regardless of where they live. After that law was enjoined, the legislature amended it so that the ban only applies to persons who live outside of Florida. But the judge said the new version is also invalid. In fact, because the original purpose for the law was supposedly to limit fraud in petitioning, the judge said the amendment makes it even more obvious that the so-called rationale is weak. Here is the decision. Thanks to Mike Drucker for this news.