On September 9, independent U.S. Senate candidate Laurie Dobson filed a federal lawsuit against the Maine Secretary of State. Dobson v Dunlap, 1:08cv-00292. Dobson collected over 5,000 valid signatures this year to be an independent candidate, and only 4,000 are required. Maine, like several other New England states, requires petitioning candidates to first submit signatures to town clerks, and then collect the signatures and turn them in to the Secretary of State. Some of the Maine town clerks refused to verify Dobson’s signatures in time for her to take them to the Secretary of State. The lawsuit argues that the candidate should not be punished for the tardiness of the town clerks.

This is the third federal ballot access case filed in Maine this year. The first, by another independent U.S. Senate candidate, Herb Hoffman, is still not over, since Hoffman has filed a petition for rehearing in U.S. District Court. The second ballot access case was filed last week by Bob Barr, and also concerns the interplay between deadlines for submission to town clerks and the separate deadline for getting signatures to the Secretary of State. UPDATE: the Herb Hoffman case is over; on September 9 his request for reconsideration was denied.

On September 8, the Montana Secretary of State’s office agreed that the ballot-qualified Constitution Party has the right to place Ron Paul on the ballot for president. Here is one news story.

On September 7, the Canadian government announced that there will be a Parliamentary election throughout Canada on October 14. The current Parliament has no majority party. Canadian polls indicate that next month’s election is also likely to produce a Parliament in which no party holds a majority of seats. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.