The latest news on this front comes from a really interesting article at Ballot Access News written by the widely-respected election expert and advocate for third party/independent ballot access, Richard Winger. Take a look at this excerpt:

On March 29, the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion in Graveline v Benson, 20-1337. It strikes down Michigan’s petition requirement for statewide independent candidates. The law requires 30,000 signatures, due July 19 of an election year.

The basis for the decision lies partly in the fact that the deadline is substantially earlier than the date on which qualified political parties in Michigan choose their nominees for most statewide state offices. For most statewide state offices, there are no primaries, and all qualified parties nominate by convention, which can be as late as September of the election year. This case arose in 2018, when Christopher Graveline, an independent candidate for Attorney General, was unwilling to decide whether to run as an independent until he could ascertain whom the major parties were likely to nominate. Thus he didn’t start until June, and by the July deadline, he only had 14,157 signatures. He sued and won injunctive relief, and was on the ballot in 2018.

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