U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock of Maine still has not ruled on the ballot access lawsuit filed September 9 by Laurie Dobson. She is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate. The hearing was Friday, September 12, and the Judge indicated he would rule very quickly, but as of 8:15 a.m. eastern time, Tuesday, September 16, he has not done so. The issue is whether a candidate who turns in her petitions to the town clerks by the deadline should still be kept off the ballot just because the town clerks didn’t finish checking the signatures in time.

North Carolina State Senator Jim Jacumin (R-Connellys Springs) has told a constituent that he will introduce a bill to ease ballot access for independent candidates next year. North Carolina ballot access for independent candidates is so severe that no independent has ever qualified for U.S. House, U.S. Senate, or Governor, in the history of government-printed ballots in that state. Ross Perot in 1992 is the only person who ever qualified as an independent candidate. District independent candidates need a petition of 4% of the number of registered voters, which is as much as 20,000 signatures in some U.S. House districts. No independent candidate for U.S. House in U.S. history has ever overcome a petition hurdle as great as 14,000 signatures.

The Montana Secretary of State has told Ron Paul that his request to be removed from the ballot arrived too late, so he will definitely be on the November ballot as the Constitution Party nominee, along with Michael Peroutka for vice-president.

Paul’s letter, dated September 10, says, “It has come to my attention that I was nominated by the Constitution Party of Montana as its presidential nominee. While I certainly appreciate the Constitution Party of Montana’s nomination, and all the hard work of its members, I am writing to respectfully request that you remove my name from the ballot in Montana as I did not seek nor consent to this nomination.”