On May 10, the Vermont legislature passed Senate Bill 86, the omnibus election law bill. It moves the petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, from June, to August. The presidential petition will always be due August 1. The deadline for independent and minor party candidates for other office will be five days before the primary. In 2014, that deadline will be August 7, and the primary will be August 12.

Assuming the Governor signs the bill, the only states that have an independent presidential petition deadline earlier than July are Illinois, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Texas. Illinois, New Mexico, and North Carolina have June deadlines. The Texas statutory deadline is not settled, and is entangled with various lawsuits on redistricting which also affect primary dates.

The Vermont bill also moves the primary from late August to mid-August. It takes effect immediately.

According to this story, it is somewhat likely that former Nebraska State Senator Chip Maxwell will run for U.S. House this year, 2nd district as an independent. If he runs, he needs 2,000 signatures by September 1.

Maxwell was a State Senator between 2000 and 2004. At the time he was a registered Republican. He switched his party affiliation to “independent” on December 31, 2013, keeping his options open for running as an independent in 2014. He has a two-hour radio show every Saturday morning and is the author of a book. Here is his web page.

Nebraska’s Second District is centered on Omaha and is the only U.S. House seat in Nebraska which is competitive between the two major parties. In November 2012, the vote was: Republican Lee Terry 133,964; Democrat John W. Ewing 129,767.

This year, the Libertarian Party also has a nominee for the 2nd district seat, Steven Laird. In order to win the Libertarian nomination, he had to defeat another Libertarian in the party’s primary. It is rare for any minor party to have a contested primary in Nebraska.

On May 16, SurveyUSA released this South Dakota poll, which has both the Governor’s race and the U.S. Senate race.

For Governor, the results are: Republican Dennis Daugaard 57%, Democrat Joe Lowe 21%, independent Michael Myers 11%, undecided 10%. See question 14. There are alternate gubernatorial results because it is not certain whom the Republican nominee will be.

For U.S. Senate, the results are: Republican Mike Rounds 44%, Democrat Rick Weiland 30%, independent Larry Pressler 17%, independent Gordon Howie 3%, independent Clayton Walker 2%, undecided 5%.

Although both the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party are on the ballot, neither one of them was able to have a nominee for either Governor or U.S. Senator, because it is so difficult for a member of a small qualified party to get on that party’s primary ballot. Both offices require 250 signatures of party members. The two parties will have nominees for some other statewide offices. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.