On June 20, Arizona filed this reply brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona v Gonzalez, the lawsuit over whether Arizona can require voters who use the federal voter registration form to answer questions that are not on that form. It is somewhat likely that the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on Monday, June 25, whether to stay the decision of the 9th circuit in this case, pending possible full review by the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the Ninth Circuit decision is not stayed, voter registration groups can get back to work in Arizona, using the federal form without supplementary state-mandated questions.

The 2009 session of the Vermont legislature moved the independent candidate petition deadline from September to June. This move has reduced choices on this year’s November general election. The Justice Party, the Constitution Party, and the Green Party, all made serious attempts to obtain the needed 1,000 signatures in time for the June 14 deadline, but all three failed. The only presidential petition that succeeded was the petition of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The problem is not entirely collecting 1,000 valid signatures; it is turning them in to the town clerks and having the town clerks verify the signatures in time for the Secretary of State’s deadline.

The Libertarian Party, Liberty Union, and the Progressive Party were already ballot-qualified and did not need to petition. The Progressive Party generally stays out of the presidential election, so, without legal action, the only choices on the Vermont November ballot for President will be: President Obama, Mitt Romney, Gary Johnson, Peta Lindsay, and whomever Liberty Union nominates. Generally, Liberty Union nominates whomever the Socialist Party nominates. If that pattern occurs this year, then Stewart Alexander will be on the ballot.

Five choices on the presidential ballot is unusually low for Vermont. That is the smallest number of choices for President in Vermont since 1972. A lawsuit is currently pending in the Vermont Supreme Court against the June 14 petition deadline, but it is not clear that that court will rule in time for anyone to get relief. The plaintiff, Jerry Trudell, had tried to be an independent candidate for Congress in 2010. Because that election is in the past, there had been no request for an expedited hearing in the Vermont Supreme Court.

On June 11, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Keyes v Obama, 11-1225, a case filed on January 20, 2009, over whether President Obama meets the constitutional qualifications to be President. The plaintiffs included the American Independent Party’s candidates for President and Vice-President in 2008. The Ninth Circuit had ruled that none of the plaintiffs have standing. The Ninth Circuit said that if the lawsuit had been filed during the election campaign, the candidate plaintiffs would have had standing.

The lawsuit, and the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, had been filed by Gary Kreep, the San Diego attorney who was apparently elected to a Superior Court Judgeship on June 5, 2012.