The Berkshires Democratic Socialists of America has endorsed Joe Tache for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. Tache is the Party for Socialism & Liberation nominee for U.S. Senate. As far as is known, this is the first time any unit of DSA has endorsed the nominee of any party other than the Democratic Party.
At the August 2026 Washington state primary, four write-in candidates received 1% of the total vote cast for Skagit Countywide county office. In the Washington state top-two system, write-in candidates don’t advance to the general election, even if they place second, unless they meet the 1% vote test. See this story.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has not yet acted on AB 1539, which was sent to him on September 3. He must decide by Wednesday, September 30. It requires political parties that run presidential nominees to file forms saying their choice for president and vice president does not violate the 22nd Amendment (the term limits amendment). It also requires independent presidential candidates, and even declared write-in presidential candidates, to file similar paperwork.
Generally, the more paperwork parties and candidates must file, the greater the odds that something will go wrong and the candidate or party will be kept off the ballot.
EIGHTH CIRCUIT STRIKES DOWN SOUTH DAKOTA’S FEBRUARY PETITION DEADLINE FOR INITIATIVES
On August 11, the Eighth Circuit struck down South Dakota’s February petition deadline for initiatives. Dakotans for Health v Johnson, 25-2940. This was somewhat surprising, because at the oral argument in June, one of the judges had seemed skeptical of the case. The vote was 2-1. The decision is by Raymond Gruender, a Bush Jr. appointee, and is also signed by Jane Kelly, an Obama appointee. James B. Loken, a Bush Sr. appointee, dissented.
The decision has implications for ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates.
The fight over South Dakota’s deadline for initiative petitions began in 2019, when a group called SD Voice sued over the November (of the year before the election) deadline. SD Voice complaiined that setting the deadline that early made it impossible for voters to decide whether to support an initiative, based on what the legislature might have done early in the election year. SD Voice also complained that, in general, interest in political issues is not as great in odd years as it is in even years (election years).
SD Voice won that case in the Eighth Circuit in 2023. 60 F.4th 1071. The decision says that circulating a petition is free speech activity, and that the Constitution does not permit states to curtail that type of free speech activity for such a long period of time (i.e., all the months of even years) without a good reason. “South Dakota has banned all participation in the petition process one year before the next election…The filing deadline clearly limits the number of voices that will convey a message on the ballot by pushing back the deadline to one year before a general election.”
The Current, a Georgia on-line periodical centered in Savannah, has this extensive article about Georgia’s severe ballot access laws for candidates who are not Republicans or Democrats.
