Seriously. I've been hearing early warning alrms about Project 2025 from media articles for at leat 6+ months now. Same with the election poll rigging shit that I've been seeing "MSM isn't telling you about this MAGA poll rigging!"
Maybe it's because I pay attention? Nah, that can't be it, I have ADHD.
In reality, it's because there's a ton of shit going on and in various stages of completion. Shit that's dire/urgent today gets fed to the top of reporting with the stuff that sucks but doesn't have impact now gets depruotized for later.
Maybe having legal representation on your campaign that does all the legal work like this is incredibly important instead of relying on an unaffiliated clerk? I expect any candidate I would vote for to be able to navigate electoral process effectively by having a competent team. This is the inverview process, and they're failing at it.
And no, the parties didn't set these rules up. These rules were set up by each state, and each state varies on the rules and requirements.