On May 9, Maine LD 231 finally became law. It lets independent voters choose a partisan primary ballot, without having to join that party on the spot. Governor Janet Mills did not sign it, but she let it become law without her signature.

It took a long time for this bill to pass. It was introduced in early 2021 and passed both chambers in 2021, but then it was laid on the budget table, meaning it still hadn’t passed until the budget was settled. On April 25, 2022, it was finally removed from the budget table.

On April 28, Danielle Neuschwanger switched her registration from Republican to Constitution. On April 30 the Constitution Party nominated her for Governor of Colorado. Neuschwanger earlier this year had been seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination. She had received 27% of the vote at the Republican endorsements convention, below the 30% needed to run in the Republican primary without a petition. See this story.

On May 5, Acting Supreme Court Judge Patrick F. McAllister, a Republican, decline to extend the petition deadline for statewide independent candidates, even though the statewide petitions require at least 500 signatures from each of half the U.S. House districts, and the boundaries of those districts won’t exist until May 20 at the earliest. The petition deadline is May 31.

The order is styled as an “Advisory Opinion” and it does not appear that anyone in the case set out a legal argument in favor of extending the deadline. The case deals with the constitutionality of the recent redistricting for U.S. House and state legislature. None of the plaintiffs have any expressed interest in the problems of independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. The opinion was issued as a document in Harkenrider v Hochul, Steuben County Supreme Court, E2022-0116cv. Apparently the State Board of Elections asked for this action. Thanks to Joe Burns for this news.

It is likely that one or several 2022 petitioning groups will soon seek to intervene in the case.