On April 11, the Vermont Senate passed S86, an omnibus election law bill. Among other things, it moves the independent candidate petition deadline from June to August. The bill is now pending in the House Government Operations Committee. Specifically, the bill says the independent petition deadline is three days after the primary.
Does this include non-qualified parties or just strictly non-party candidates?
It includes both. In Vermont, an independent candidate is free to choose any party label that is short and doesn’t mimic the name of a qualified party, so the Vermont independent procedure is really also a procedure to be used by unqualified parties.