On September 22, the independent candidates who are challenging the Arkansas March petition deadline asked for reconsideration. Last month a U.S. District Court in Arkansas had said that early petition deadlines are constitutional if the number of signatures is small. That Court upheld the deadline. The case is Moore v Martin, e.d., 4:14cv-65.

The case has no effect on presidential independent deadlines. Independent presidential candidates in Arkansas have an August deadline.

The request for reconsideration points out that early petition deadlines are unconstitutional all by themselves, regardless of how many signatures are required. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1983 struck down the Ohio March petition deadline even though Ohio only required 5,000 signatures, which at the time was only one-tenth of 1% of the electorate. Furthermore, the Arkansas non-presidential independent candidate petition requirements are not easy. Arkansas requires 10,000 signatures for statewide office, which is about 1% of the normal vote cast in presidential years, and 1.5% of the normal vote in midterm years. Independent candidates for district office need petitions of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote within that district. Arkansas independent petition requirements are considerably more difficult than the median requirements of the 50 states.