Independent candidate & third-party ballot access thread

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This Wikipedia page shows ballot access for the general election, by state & filing deadlines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

But it's a little more complicated than that:

For example, the page says the filing deadline for NC and GA has already passed for independent candidates. This is true, but not for parties. Parties not only have a lower signature threshold in most states, but also more time to collect them.

That's why Kennedy Jr. created several parties in TX, CA, NC to have more time to collect fewer signatures.

Most deadlines are only coming up from June to early September.

https://ballotpedia.org/Minor_party_presidential_ballot_access,_2024

TX in May will be the first critical state for Kennedy. It has a requirement of more than 100.000 signatures. I am not sure if Kennedy is pursuing the independent candidate route there, or the party route, with fewer signatures and 2 weeks more time. His SuperPAC has been sued by the Democrats for illegally coordinating with the campaign, and his SuperPAC was responsible for collecting the signatures via the party route.

Kennedy is doing the party thing in Texas with the "Texas Independent Party".

Is there a reason why RFK - having taken up the mantle of the We The People Party in literally every other state where he created one - just did a 180 on party naming in Texas and adopted the most generic name possible?

A lot of people (including Gavin Newsom's wife) have registered American Independent Party because that is what they thought independents were supposed to do.