Earlier this year, the Republican gubernatorial nominee in New York, Bruce Blakeman, arranged for a petition to qualify himself as the nominee of the “Vote Affordable” Party. Several other Republican candidates for for legislative office completed petitions under the same name for their own races as well.
It is possible Blakeman will receive a vote total on the Vote Affordable line equal to 2% or more of the vote cast for Governor. If he does, that party would become a qualified party.
On October 7, NBC-10 will host a televised Rhode Island gubernatorial debate. Three candidates are invited into the debate: independent Ken Block, Democrat Helena Foulkes, and Republican Aaron Guckian.
On September 15, the Fourth Circuit heard oral argument in Hogarth v Bell, 26-1328. This is the case challenging North Carolina’s law that makes it a crime for a voter to take a picture of his or her voted ballot. Here is a link to a recording of the argument. The three judges were A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Allison Rushing, and DeAndrea Benjamin.
The U.S. District Court had upheld the law. The plaintiff is Susan Hogarth, an activist in the Libertarian Party.
Here is a sample ballot for Washington, D.C., for the November 2026 election.
As usual this year, most New Jersey counties use party-column ballots, but never give party columns to any parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. See this Atlantic County ballot.
New Jersey lets each county choose its own ballot format, and a few counties use office-group ballots, which are the standard in 45 other states.
