United Kansas Party Submits its Petition for Qualified Status

On March 12, the United Kansas Party submitted its petition to be recognized in Kansas. It exists only in Kansas. It is a centrist party that will probably file a lawsuit in state court this year to earn the ability to jointly nominate a candidate who is also a Democratic or Republican nominee. See this story. Thanks to Independent Political Report for this news.

U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Hear Jill Stein’s Lawsuit on How to Calculate Primary Season Matching Funds Time Limit

On March 18, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Stein v Federal Election Commission, 23-771. The lower federal courts had refused to block the FEC from asking Jill Stein, the Green Party presidential nominee in 2016, for some of the funds back. The dispute involved the time period in which a presidential candidate seeking the nomination of several parties can raise private funds that get matched by the government. In the past, if a candidate was seeking the nomination of two parties, the period stopped when the later party decision was made. But in 2016, the FEC changed the rules and said the period ends once the first such political party makes a decision. Stein had been seeking both the Green Party nomination and the Peace & Freedom Party nomination. She now must repay the funds she raised after the Green Party presidential convention but before the Peace & Freedom presidential convention. It was a short period in August 2016, but she happened to have raised a large amount of money during that period.

She is seeking matching funds this year, in her quest for the 2024 Green nomination.