The Vermont legislature this year moved the petition deadline for independent candidates from September to June, a drastic de-liberalization.  On August 25, an independent candidate for U.S. House, Jerry Trudell, filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging that the deadline is unconstitutional.  Vermont holds its primary in August.  The case is Trudell v Markowitz, filed in Superior Court in Washington County.

Trudell was on the ballot in 2008 for U.S. House, with the ballot label “Energy Independence.”  He polled 10,818 votes, coming in third.  He submitted a petition this year shortly before the primary, but the Secretary of State refused to accept it because it was late.

Courts in many states have ruled that independent petition candidate deadlines (for office other than president) may not be earlier than the primary, or perhaps the day before the primary.  Such cases have been won in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.  In addition, lawsuits filed by independent presidential candidates have also struck down deadlines in Arizona, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, and in all three of those cases, the decision seemed to strike down the deadline for non-presidential independents as well.

There are no cases upholding independent candidate petition deadlines that are earlier than primary day, or the day before the primary, except for one in Illinois in 1986 that has since been overturned, and one in Washington state in which none of the plaintiff-candidates were injured by the deadline.

Florida held a Libertarian Party primary in one state legislative district on August 25.  This is believed to be the first minor party primary conducted by Florida elections officials, ever.  In the 33rd State House district, Franklin Perez received 49 votes and Ellen Paul received 19 votes.  Only registered Libertarians in the district could vote in this primary.

All qualified parties in Florida have been entitled to their own primary since 2007.  However, such primaries did not exist in 2008 (except for the Democratic and Republican Parties) because contests are so rare.  That is especially true in Florida, which has the nation’s highest filing fees.  Thanks to J. W. Smith for the news.

Alaska held its primaries on August 24.  To almost everyone’s great surprise, little-known Republican candidate Joe Miller appears to have defeated Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski.  However, many ballots remain to be counted.

This column in the Anchorage Daily News, by Sean Cockerham, suggests that new candidates may now enter the race.  The petition deadline for independent candidates was August 24, so no one can enter the race as an independent.  But, Cockerham notes, qualified parties who already had a nominee are free to substitute a new nominee, if the original nominee withdraws.  He discusses the possibility that either the Democratic Party, or the Libertarian Party, might name a new nominee if the original nominee withdraws.  No other parties have a nominee for U.S. Senate.  The Alaskan Independence Party did not enter that race.  UPDATE:  this article quotes Scott Kohlhaas, a leader of the Alaska Libertarian Party, hinting that the Libertarian Party likes some issue stances of Lisa Murkowski.