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.

On April 10, the Missouri Senate passed SB 892, which moves the presidential primary from February to March. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.

On April 3, the Idaho Secretary of State posted a list of candidates for federal and state office in Idaho this year, including independent candidates. See this link.

The only candidates that could possibly be added would be the nominees of a new party, if a new party happens to qualify in Idaho this year. The petition for that is due in late August. Parties already qualified in Idaho are Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, and Constitution.