On May 31, the Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., campaign filed a ballot access lawsuit against the Nevada Secretary of State.  Team Kennedy v Aguilar, 2:24cv-01027.  The case has not yet been assigned to any particular U.S. District Court Judge.

The main focus of the lawsuit is to dispute the contention of the Nevada Secretary of State that the petition, which has already been completed, is invalid because it doesn’t list a vice-presidential nominee.  Kennedy argues that it violates Equal Protection to require independent presidential candidates to have chosen their vice-presidential running mates so early in the year, when the two major parties do not need to choose their v-p nominees until August.

The lawsuit also argues that the petition form itself, which is an official state form, has no room to list more than a single candidate, and the law says an independent candidate petition can list only one candidate.  Also the Complaint points out that the Secretary of State’s office had told the Kennedy campaign that a vice-presidential candidate need not be listed on the form.  This is undisputed, although the Secretary of State says an employee made an error.

The lawsuit also attacks the law that requires an independent presidential candidate to pay a fee of $250.  The lawsuit will argue that the fee is redundant and serves no purpose, because the purpose of filing fees is to show that the candidate has a modicum of support, but the petition (if successfully completed) already serves that purpose.  Furthermore Nevada does not require the presidential nominee of a qualified party to pay a fee in order to appear on the general election ballot.

On May 31, the Ohio Senate passed HB 2.  The bill is now through the legislature and on its way to the Governor.  It moves the deadline for qualified major parties to certify their presidential and vice-presidential candidates from 90 days before the election, to 65 days, but only if one of the major parties notifies the state in advance that it will need the later deadline.

On May 25, the Alliance Party, which is ballot-qualified in South Carolina, nominated Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for president.  In 2020 the party had nominated Rocky De La Fuente for president.  In 2016 it had nominated Peter Skewes for president.  When the party first qualified in 2016, it was named the American Party, but in 2018 had changed its name to the Alliance Party.

South Carolina has more ballot-qualified parties than any state except Florida.  Although the petition requirement to create a new party in South Carolina is not easy, the retention law is very easy.  A party can stay on the ballot indefinitely as long as it nominates at least one candidate for any partisan office every four years.