Although Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is an independent candidate, he has formed parties in a few states to help him with ballot access, including Hawaii. His We the People Party may have a candidate for the Hawaii legislature this year. Christian Ulufanua has taken out papers to be a We the People candidate for the legislature, although he hasn’t submitted them. He only needs 15 signatures.
No Labels is a qualified party in Hawaii. Any adult citizen-resident may run in its primary for any partisan federal or state office. Candidates for statewide office and U.S. House need 25 signatures; legislative candidates need 15 signatures.
The Hawaii candidate qualification process is proceeding, and the deadline is June 4. The Hawaii Elections office website has a list of candidates who have taken out petition forms, and who has turned in a petition. Lono Mack has taken out papers to be a No Labels candidate for U.S. Senate. However, he has also taken out papers to run in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. He hasn’t submitted any petition yet. In 2022 he had run for the legisltaure as a Democrat, but he did not win the Democratic primary.
No Labels does not appear to have asked the Hawaii Elections Office to cancel its qualified status. It participated in the drawing last month for ballot position in the primary. Hawaii holds a random drawing to determine the order of parties on the primary ballot. The Green Party won the top spot.
No Labels is in court in Arizona to keep anyone from running in its August primary for Congress or state office. It won in U.S. District Court, but the state is appealing. The state’s brief in the Ninth Circuit is due on May 20 (today). No Labels is also still in court in Delaware over its trademark lawsuit against a group with a satirical website.
On May 19, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., appearing on television, pointed out that neither President Joe Biden nor former President Donald Trump are officially on any state’s ballot so far. That is because they haven’t been nominated yet, and they will not have both been nominated until late August. See this story. Of course CNN, the sponsor of the June 27 debate, considers Biden and Trump to have “qualified for the ballot in states with at least 270 electoral votes” because CNN knows it is extremely likely that they will be on the ballot.
Also Kennedy said he will be on the ballot in states with 340 electoral votes by the end of May.
On May 17, a Missouri state trial court ruled against the Missouri Republican Party’s attempt to block Darrell McClanahan from its primary ballot. He is running for the Republican gubernatorial nomination. The party wanted to block him because of his views. See this story. Missouri Republican Party v Secretary of State, Cole Circuit Court, 24AC-CC02151.
UPDATE: also see this story.
The Missouri legislature adjourned on May 17. House Bill 1412, which would have restricted ballot access, failed to advance and is now dead. It would have prevented anyone from running as a party candidate in a primary unless he or she had been registered in that party at least 23 weeks before the candidate filing period opens.
Although Missouri registration forms now allow individuals to register as a party member, there are currently no legal consequences for how anyone registers or doesn’t register. Missouri doesn’t have gather statistics on how many voters register into particular parties.
