Ohio Election Law Appears to Require All Qualified Parties to Certify National Nominees by August 8, Before Major Party National Conventions

May 16th, 2012

In 2010, the Ohio election law was amended to require all qualified parties to certify the names of their presidential and vice-presidential nominees by 90 days before the general election. In 2012, that would be August 8. However, neither the Democratic Party, nor the Republican Party, will have held their national conventions that early.

The Ohio law is section 3505.10(B). It says the November ballot, in presidential years, will include “the names of the candidates for president and vice-president certified to the secretary of state or nominated in one of the following manners: (1) Nominated by the national convention of a political party to which delegates and alternates were elected in this state at the next preceding primary election. A political party certifying candidates so nominated shall certify the names of those candidates to the secretary of state on or before the 90th day before the day of the general election.”

Texas had a similar problem in 2008. The law required the names to be certified by a date that was earlier than the date of the Republican and Democratic national conventions. The Secretary of State did not enforce the deadline in 2008, and in 2009 the Texas legislature repealed the deadline. The Ohio legislature is still in session so it could fix the problem if it wished.



Sixth Circuit Sets Briefing Schedule for Tennessee Request to Remove Green and Constitution Parties from Ballot

May 16th, 2012

The Tennessee Secretary of State’s brief in the Sixth Circuit is due on June 12, in Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, 12-5271. The state’s brief will try to persuade the Sixth Circuit to remove the Green Party, and the Constitution Party, from the November 2012 ballot. The U.S. District Court had ordered that they be put on the ballot. The state will probably argue that those two parties have not shown a modicum of voter support.

In the meantime, even though the Constitution Party has filed its candidates with the state, the state’s web page does not include the Constitution Party nominees on the list of candidates. This is having a discouraging effect on the party’s candidates. Their attempts to campaign are injured because they are not found on the Secretary of State’s web page. The Green Party has not yet had its nominating convention.

U.S. Supreme Court Gives Top-Two Supporters Until June 22 to File Response Briefs

May 16th, 2012

The U.S. Supreme Court has extended the deadline for Washington state, and the Washington state Grange, to file their responses in the case challenging top-two election systems. The new deadline is June 22. The case is Washington State Democratic Committee v Washington State Grange, numbers 11-1263 and 11-1266. If the state and the Grange had not asked for more time, the briefs would all be in by now and we could have expected the U.S. Supreme Court to decide in June whether to hear the case. But because of the delay, the decision on whether the court hears this case will not be made until September at the earliest, and not revealed to the public until early October.

Ohio Governor Signs Bill that Repeals 2011 Omnibus Election Law Bill

May 16th, 2012

On May 15, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed SB 295, which repeals the 2011 omnibus election law bill, except for one provision that eliminates early voting on the three days before election day. See this story. As a result of the bill becoming law, the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties reverts to November of the year before the election (in presidential election years), the same deadline held unconstitutional in 2006 by the Sixth Circuit.

Many Write-ins Cast in Oregon Republican Primary

May 16th, 2012

Oregon held primaries for the Democratic and Republican Parties on May 15. No Republican appeared on the primary ballot for either Treasurer or Attorney General. However, write-in candidates campaigned for the nominations. Although the write-ins aren’t tallied yet, the unofficial figures show a large number of write-ins cast in the Republican primary for both those offices.

As of 7 a.m. Pacific time, the Secretary of State’s election returns web page shows 17,490 write-ins for Attorney General, and 16,523 for Treasurer. Those numbers will increase. Here is a link to the returns.

Ohio Libertarians Didn’t Poll Enough Write-ins to Nominate a U.S. Senate Candidate

May 16th, 2012

Ohio law requires a write-in candidate for statewide office in a small party’s primary to poll 500 write-ins, in order to get the nomination. It isn’t enough for the candidate to outpoll any opponents. This blog reported on March 28 that the Ohio Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate, John Fockler, had polled more than 500 write-ins in the Libertarian primary on March 6, for U.S. Senate.

However, official returns announced on May 3 show that he only polled 337, not enough to have his name on the November ballot. The unofficial returns on election night had showed he had 407 write-ins, with some counties unable to provide a write-in tally. Later, on March 28, Ohio elections officials had said it appeared he had between 700 and 800, but that turned out not to be true.

It is likely that the unofficial election returns on election night were not the total for Fockler, but the number of all write-ins cast for U.S. Senate in the Libertarian primary, including the names of people who had not filed as a declared write-in. The official tally does not mention how many voters cast a write-in for someone who wasn’t a declared write-in candidate.

The Green Party actually had more write-ins for U.S. Senate in its primary, although no Green got enough write-in votes either. Joseph DeMare got 324 write-ins, and his opponent Anita Rios got 74, for a total of 398 write-ins for a declared write-in candidate for U.S. Senate in the Green Party primary.

Libertarians will have eight nominees for U.S. House on the November ballot in November, and Greens will have three. All of the Libertarian and Green nominees for U.S. House had their names printed on their own party’s primary ballot, except that one Libertarian was a primary write-in candidate and polled exactly 25 write-ins, the bare minimum needed for the nomination. The write-in candidate who got enough votes for U.S. House is Chris Kalla in the 4th district.

WPDE-TV in South Carolina Covers Attempts by Major Party Members to Petition as Independents

May 15th, 2012

WPDE-TV has this story about the attempts by some of the Democratic and Republican Party candidates who were kept off primary ballots to petition their way onto the November ballot as independent candidates. The film features one such candidate going door-to-door. The story says after the candidate’s first 30 minutes, he had gathered 3 signatures and had 957 to go.

As noted in earlier posts about the South Carolina ballot access snafu, South Carolina is tied for having the most difficult independent candidate petition requirements in the nation, for legislature and county partisan office. For those offices, the law requires 5% of the number of registered voters. South Carolina has never had an independent candidate on the ballot for U.S. House, even though the U.S. House requirement is capped at 10,000, which means the requirement is approximately 2.7% for U.S. House. Nor has South Carolina ever had an independent candidate on the ballot for statewide office, other than president. The statewide independent petition is also capped at 10,000.

Although the law is unclear, there is a plausible reason to believe that South Carolina’s ballot-qualified minor parties could nominate some of these candidates if they wish to. South Carolina’s ballot-qualified minor parties all nominate by convention, not primary.

Nebraska Presidential Primary Results for Three Political Parties

May 15th, 2012

On May 15, Nebraska held a presidential primary for the Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian Parties. Here is a link to the unofficial results, via the Secretary of State’s web page. Gary Johnson won the Libertarian primary and Roger Gary placed second. UPDATE: later returns show Lee Wrights in second place. Thanks to the commenters who pointed this out.

Alabama Says Americans Elect Petition is Valid

May 15th, 2012

On May 15, the Alabama Secretary of State determined that the Americans Elect petition has enough valid signatures. Americans Elect is the first statewide petition in that state (whether newly-qualifying party or statewide independent candidate) to have completed a petition successfully since the Libertarians did it in 2000. That statement does not make reference to independent candidates for president, who only need one-ninth as many signatures as the other statewide petitions.

Americans Elect’s Board will meet on Thursday morning, May 17, to decide what happens next. It is somewhat plausible that the qualifying deadlines for candidates seeking a place on the Americans Elect primary ballot will be moved to a later date. Americans Elect petition drives that are underway, including the difficult Texas petition, are continuing in the meantime.

Florida Secretary of State Won’t Enforce Rule for 2011 that Qualified Parties Must Have At Least $500 Worth of Financial Activity, but Will Enforce it in Future

May 15th, 2012

On May 14, the Florida Secretary of State informed the Party for Socialism and Liberation that he will not enforce a regulation that parties must have at least $500 worth of campaign-related activity during 2011. However, he warned that he will enforce that regulation in the future. The Secretary of State’s May 14 letter says the rule won’t be enforced as to 2011 because it was not promulgated until September 7, 2011.

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Welcome to the OFFICIAL online home of Ballot Access News, a non-partisan newsletter reporting on the trials and tribulations of folks trying to put candidates on the ballot in the United States of America. There are many surprisingly restrictive ballot access laws in this country, which the average voter has no knowledge or conception of; part of our purpose here (besides reporting on progress made) is to report on these restrictive ballot access laws so that more people are aware of them. I hope you find these materials interesting and exciting; if you do, you can support the newsletter by subscribing!

Ballot Access News is edited and published by Richard Winger, the nation's leading expert on ballot access legal issues.

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  • Politics, Soviet-style by S. Philip Gordon, regarding recent ballot access issues in Georgia – the US state, not the Russian territority!

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Other information:

  • Here's how to subscribe to Ballot Access News!

  • Here's information on Presidential Ballot Access as well as the vote totals of recent Presidential elections.

  • Here are some other sites which may also be of interest:

    Project Vote-Smart

    Project Vote Smart is a citizens' organization dedicated to serving all Americans with accurate and unbiased information for electoral decision-making. It was inaugerated in 1992 by former US Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and other leaders. Its webpage offers information about all ballot-listed candidates for all federal and state office.
    [Added:040729]

    The ACE Project
    An interesting site concerning itself with the "Administration and Cost of Elections", including issues of fairness and regulatory approaches in various countries. They seem to be almost blind to the ways that third parties in the USA are harmed by campaign finance rules crafted for the problems characteristic of the larger parties, or the ways that third parties would be disenfranchised by various proposed rules, but this is nevertheless a useful resource, particularly for the international comparisons it makes.
    [Added:001206]

    "Unofficial" B.A.N. Page

    At first, it looks like there's not much here. But then you follow the "Charts" link, and click on one of the listed candidates, and you'll get some truly wonderful nationwide maps of voting patterns.
    [Checked:991014]

    ThirdPartyNews.net

    A site that covers news about minor parties.
    [Checked:060414]

    Third Party Central

    Collects lots of good information and links relating to various third parties into one convenient location. Nice set of writings on why one should vote third-party.
    [Checked:991014]

    Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections

    A surprisingly complete listing of votes cast in Presidential elections, including numerous third-party candidates and nice maps of vote distribution by state and (on the individual state pages) by county.
    [New-URL:010309]

    D.C.'s Political Report

    Very good presentation of candidate and party information, including virtually every known third-party group in the USA. Election results, candidate information, etc.
    [Updated:991214]

    Initiative For Texas

    A group trying to establish the right to Initiative and Referendum in Texas. Their work has intriguing parallels and overlaps with ballot access work. Every page at the site seems to have some music on it, which can get annoying after awhile, but otherwise it's an interesting site.
    [Checked:991014]

    Center for Voting and Democracy

    Folks concerned with alternative voting systems, and related issues, from a moderately leftist perspective. Useful articles describing how better systems of voting and electing actually work.
    [Added:000823]

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