On April 10, the Vermont Senate rejected amendments made by the House to S.86, the omnibus election law bill. One of the differences between the Senate version and the House version is the petition deadline for independent candidates. The Senate version of the bill moved that deadline from June to August, a significant improvement. But the House refused that change.

Some Vermont legislators have admitted that when the House acted, it wasn’t thinking about the effect of a June petition deadline on presidential candidates. The Vermont independent petition for president is now the second earliest in the nation, and Vermont does not permit stand-ins on petitions. Many parties won’t have chosen their presidential candidate in time to comply with the June petition deadline.