On June 8, 2007, a federal lawsuit on the subject of where circulators may work was successfully settled. The cities of Grand Island and Omaha issued memos to their employees saying, “Petition signature gathering is permitted on the exterior areas of library property, including the connecting walkways.”

The city of Lincoln issued a memo to its employees, saying “All city departments may have contact with people exercising various First Amendment rights, including, but not limited to, petition signature gatherers. Please be aware that the First Amendment allows a great deal of latitude to people exercising their First Amendment rights.”

Douglas County issued a memo letting people petition in the common exterior areas of the County Hall of Justice and Civic Center Complex.

This case, Groene v Seng, 4:06cv3153, had been filed in 2006. The various governmental departments paid attorneys fees of $100,000 and settled the lawsuit with no need for a judicial opinion.

Woodbury County (Iowa) Auditor Pat Gill says that the county will hold a presidential primary at the county fair, August 1-5, 2007. Mr. Gill is not available for questions on July 18. The obvious question for him (which no one else in that office can answer) is how the county will decide which candidates to list on the ballots. It is hoped he will be available on July 19 to answer this question. The state of Iowa has never held a presidential primary, so obviously nothing in the state election code can deal with this question. UPDATE: Woodbury County will list the 8 Democrats who have participated in debates this year, and the 10 Republicans who have participated in debates this year, on its presidential primary ballots. Also, for the Republican ballot, the county will include Fred Thompson, and will probably delete Jim Gilmore.

The 9th circuit is likely to hear Nader v Brewer in October 2007. This is the case over whether Arizona’s early June petition deadline is too early for independent presidential candidates, and whether it is unconstitutional for a state to ban out-of-state petitioners for independent presidential candidates.

Other 2004 Nader ballot access cases that are still pending are in Ohio (over whether the state may require circulators to be registered voters), and in Hawaii (over whether the state’s petition-checking procedures violate due process, and also over whether it is constitutional for a state to require 6 times as many signatures for an independent presidential candidate as for an entire new party).