On September 12, U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock held a 90-minute hearing in Dobson v Dunlap, 1:08-cv-00292. The issue is whether Laurie Dobson should be on the ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate. She obtained 4,000 valid signatures, and submitted them to the town clerks by the legal deadline, May 27. The law also said that the town clerks had to finish checking the signatures by June 2, but in Dobson’s case, some of the town clerks did not comply. Dobson argues that she should not be punished because the town clerks did not obey the law. Judge Woodcock is expected to rule on September 15, although his ruling may be limited to deciding whether to halt the ballot printing. If he does halt the ballot printing, that would give more time for the eventual decision on whether Dobson’s name should be on the ballot. The lawsuit was not filed until September 9.