On May 16, U.S. District Court Judge Neil V. Wake upheld Arizona’s February petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. See the 12 page opinion here in Arizona Green Party v Bennett, cv-14-375. The decision says that Arizona needs a petition deadline that early, in order to get ready for the new party’s primary, which is six months after the deadline, on August 26, 2014.

The decision mentions some of the precedents that invalidated early petition deadlines for newly-qualifying parties in other states, but does not discuss them, except to imply that they all involve presidential elections. However, some of the precedents mentioned in the decision were not related to presidential elections or presidential candidates.

The decision makes a slight acknowledgement that the state is free to let newly-qualifying parties nominate by convention. The decision does not acknowledge the point that initiative petitions are due in Arizona only four months before the election, and somehow the state is able to cope with the initiative deadline. The party has already filed a notice of appeal.

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.