South Carolina Extends Filing Fees to Candidates Nominated at Conventions

Posted on by June 11, 2026
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On May 15, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster signed HB 3557. It says that candidates nominated in conventions must pay filing fees. The fee is 1% of the office’s salary. However, the law says the money goes to that candidate’s party. The money does not go to the state treasury.

Before the bill passed, only primary candidates needed to pay a filing fee. Fees for convention candidates are not logical. The purpose of filing fees is to keep ballots uncrowded. However, when a party nominates by convention, there is no problem with crowded primary ballots.

South Carolina still does not require independent candidates to pay a filing fee.

New Jersey Administrative Law Judge Recommends that Libertarian be Kept Off Ballot for U.S. House Because She Used Out-of-state Circulators

Posted on by June 11, 2026
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On June 11, a New Jersey administrative law judge recommended that Libertarian candidate Lana Leguia off the ballot for US House. All sides agree that she has enough valid signatures, but some of her signatures were collected by out-of-state petitioners. However, the Secretary of State is still free to overrule the administrative law judge. The Secretary of State has made no final decision yet.

The case is New Jersey Republican State Committee v Leguia, OALSTE 9209-26. Here is the decision.

The administrative law judge says the out-of-state ban is probably unconstitutional, but that he doesn’t have the authority to declare a law unconstitutional. In 2021 a US District Court in New Jersey struck down the out-of-state ban for primary petitions, so the law is void for primary petitions. But the law continues to ban out-of-state circulators for general election petitions.

There has never been any state in which out-of-state circulators were banned for general election petitions even though they were permitted for primary petitions, until this moment.

California Green Party Now Likely to Have Two Legislative Candidates on November Ballot

Posted on by June 11, 2026
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Earlier, BAN reported that California Green Party member Victor Hernandez would appear on the November 2026 ballot in the 59th Assembly district in Orange County. Now it appears that a second Green legislative candidate will qualify for the November ballot. Mark Rendon in the 14th Assembly district is currently in second place in a 3-way race. Here are the returns as of June 11. The three candidates are the Democratic incumbent, Rendon, and a Republican. Currently Rendon is leading the Republican, Borgar Solnordal, by 12,398 to 11,147. Not all the votes are counted.

Assuming Rendon does place second, and there are two California Greens on the November ballot for partisan office, this will be the largest number of Greens on the California November ballot since 2018, when there were three.

The 14th Assembly district is centered on Berkeley and Richmond, and also has parts of Oakland.

Eighth Circuit Hears Challenge to South Dakota’s February Petition Deadline for Initiative Petitions

Posted on by June 10, 2026
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On June 9, the Eighth Circuit heard Dakotans for Health v Johnson, 25-2940. The issue is the February petition deadline for inititive petitions. South Dakota has severe winter weather, and a winter deadline effectively means the initiative must gather its signatures in the year before the election. See this account of the oral argument. The lower court had struck down the deadline.