December 1, 2002 – Volume 18, Number 8

1. MINOR PARTY AND INDEPENDENT VOTE FOR TOP OFFICES IS BEST MID-TERM RESULT SINCE 1934
2. 8 MINOR PARTY LEGISLATORS WIN
3. 1st MINOR PARTY U.S. SENATOR SINCE 1946
4. D.C. MAY EASE BALLOT ACCESS
5. LAWSUIT NEWS
6. 2003 ACTIVITY FOR INITIATIVES & IRV
7. BALLOT ACCESS BILLS
8. INITIATIVE RESULTS
9. MISSOURI WRITE-INS CANDIDATES WIN
10. ELECTION RETURNS
11. 2002 OCTOBER REGISTRATION TOTALS
12. 2004 PETITIONING FOR PRESIDENT
13. 2002 VOTE FOR THE OFFICE AT TOP OF BALLOT
14. MINOR PARTIES WON LOCAL ELECTIONS
15. N.Y. PARTY MAY ALTER PRIMARY
16. CHANGES IN PARTY BALLOT STATUS

MINOR PARTY AND INDEPENDENT VOTE FOR TOP OFFICES IS BEST MID-TERM RESULT SINCE 1934

On November 5, 2002, 5.3% of the vote for the most important office on the ballots of the various states went to minor party and independent candidates. This is the first time since 1934 that the "other" vote for the top offices in a mid-term year has exceeded 5%.

"Most important office" is defined as Governor. For the 14 states that didn't elect a Governor, "most important office" means U.S. Senator. Four states didn't have either a gubernatorial or a U.S. Senate election. For those states, the office at the top of the ballot is used: Secretary of State in Indiana, and U.S. House in North Dakota, Utah and Washington.

The calculation doesn't include votes cast in fusion states for minor party nominees for the most important office who were also the nominees of one of the two major parties. Thus, the Conservative and Working Families gubernatorial vote in New York is included in the major party column, not the "other" column. The calculation omits votes cast for "None of the Above" in Nevada, and miscellaneous write-ins in all states.

Using the same rules for previous mid-term years gives these results:

1934: 5.6%
1938: 3.8%
1942: 4.8%
1946: 1.4%
1950: 1.1%
1954:   .6%
1958:   .9%
1962: 1.1%
1966: 3.2%
1970: 3.4%
1974: 2.4%
1978: 2.4%
1982: 1.8%
1986: 3.6%
1990: 4.6%
1994: 4.5%
1998: 4.9%
2002: 5.3%

Ironically, no minor party or independent candidates were elected to the most important office in any state in 2002. During the last 100 years, in mid-term years, such candidates did win at least one race in 1914 (California), 1930 (Minnesota and Oregon), 1934 (Minnesota and Wisconsin), 1942 (Wisconsin), 1970 (Virginia), 1974 (Maine), 1990 (Alaska and Connecticut), 1994 (Maine) and 1998 (Maine and Minnesota).

The Republican Party scored a strong victory in this election, if one looks at the top-most office in each state. Republicans polled 50.7% of the total vote, whereas the Democrats only polled 44.0%. If one assigns "electoral votes" to the party that won the top-most office in each state, the Republicans would have had 311 "electoral votes" and the Democrats 227. See below for a chart showing each state.

8 MINOR PARTY LEGISLATORS WIN

Eight nominees of minor parties, all of whom are members of those minor parties, were elected to state legislatures on November 5, 2002. This is the highest number of minor party state legislators elected at one time since 1992, when there were also eight elected (4 Libertarians in New Hampshire, 3 Progressives in Vermont, and one Alaskan Independence in Alaska).

The eight winners in 2002: 4 Progressives in Vermont, 1 Green in Maine, 1 Working Families in New York, 1 Republican Moderate in Alaska (the Republican Moderate Party is a fully-qualified party, entirely separate from the Republican Party), and 1 Independence Party member in Minnesota. The latter two are State Senators. They are the first minor party member-candidates elected to a State Senate since 1970, when the Tennessee American Party elected one.

1st MINOR PARTY U.S. SENATOR SINCE 1946

Dean Barkley, appointed to the U.S. Senate on November 4, 2002 by Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, is the first member of a minor party in the U.S. Senate since 1946, when Robert La Follette, Jr., left the Progressive Party. Barkley is one of the pioneers of the Minnesota Independence Party. Barkley was appointed to fill the two-month vacancy created in October, 2002.

Although the New York Conservative Party elected its nominee, James Buckley, to the Senate in 1970, he was always a registered Republican.

D.C. MAY EASE BALLOT ACCESS

On November 7, city councilman Vincent Orange introduced B14-952, which would abolish mandatory petitions for all candidates (except presidential candidates). The bill would let non-presidential candidates pay a filing fee. The fee would be $2,000 for Mayor and Delegate to Congress, and $1,000 for Council-at-large and Chair of the Council.

Under existing law, independent candidates for those offices need 3,000 signatures; candidates seeking a place on the primary ballot of a qualified party need 2,000, or 1% of that party's registration, whichever is less.

The motivation for the bill comes from the failure of the incumbent Mayor, Anthony Williams, to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot this year. He had to run a write-in campaign, which he won.

D.C. Libertarians plan to ask Councilman Orange to amend his bill to include president. The existing presidential petition, 1% of the number of registered voters, is so difficult that many minor party presidential candidates have failed to qualify, including Pat Buchanan, John Hagelin and Howard Phillips in 2000.

LAWSUIT NEWS

1. Alabama: on November 8, Johnny Swanson, a write-in candidate for U.S. Senate, sued the state in federal court for failing to canvass his write-in votes. Swanson v Bennett, 02-A-1244-N, m.d. Alabama is one of the states that permits write-ins, and doesn't have a procedure for a serious write-in candidate to file a declaration of write-in candidacy. Under the law, the state ought to canvass all write-ins, but in fact it mostly ignores them. This case could set an important precedent.

2. Alaska: the Green Party polled 3% for all its statewide candidates except Governor. Under the law, the gubernatorial race is the only one that counts, so the party was disqualified. The party will file a lawsuit in state court, alleging that the law violates the State Constitution, and that the state ought to look at all statewide races. The Alaska Constitution has more protection for ballot access than the U.S. Constitution.

3. California: on November 7, the State Supreme Court ruled that the State Constitution does not require write-in space on run-off ballots. Edelstein v San Francisco, 102530. State law says write-ins are permitted in "any election", but the Court majority said that a run-off is not included in the phrase "any election". Plaintiffs have asked for a rehearing, pointing out numerous places in the Election Code where it is obvious that a run-off election is an election.

4. Georgia: on October 25, a hearing was held in Fulton Co. Superior Court in Dickson v Secretary of State, 00-cv-27164. The Green Party argues that the 5% petition requirement for district office violates the State Constitution.

6. Illinois: on October 25, the State Appellate Court ruled that a party that was qualified in a single district does not lose that status, just because the district's boundaries changed as a result of redistricting. The decision affirms the lower court ruling, which kept the Libertarian Party on the ballot in several legislative districts. Preuter v State Officers Electoral Board, 1-02-2545.

Illinois (2): on September 9, a lawsuit was filed in federal court against the 25,000-signature requirement to run for Mayor of Chicago in the non-partisan primary. If no relief is granted, incumbent Mayor Richard M. Daley may be the only candidate listed on the ballot. Chagin v Bd. of Elec. Cmsrs of Chicago, 02-c-6378. The case is before Judge Charles Norgle, a Reagan appointee.

7. Kansas: on October 30, the Secretary of State and the Natural Law Party tentatively settled the lawsuit against a law that says parties must have one-word names. The Secretary of State will not defend the law, and promised to ask the legislature to repeal it. If the legislature does not act, the case will return to court in May 2003. Natural Law Party v Thornburgh, 02-2390-JWL.

8. New York: the Green Party will soon file a lawsuit, alleging that voters have a right to remain registered as Greens, even though the party lost its qualified status this month. Similar cases have won in New Jersey, Colorado and Oklahoma.

2003 ACTIVITY FOR INITIATIVES & IRV

The Center for Voting & Democracy, which promotes proportional representation, believes that Vermont and New Mexico may approve Instant-Runoff voting bills in 2003.

Citizens in Charge is an organization dedicated to expanding the list of states that have the initiative process. The organization will concentrate in 2003 on Minnesota and New York.

BALLOT ACCESS BILLS

Activists in many states are already working to find sponsors for bills to improve ballot access laws. Such bills will probably be introduced in at least 15 states. In Nebraska and West Virginia, the Secretary of State has indicated an interest in helping.

Two powerful Democratic state legislators who have blocked ballot access reform in the past were defeated on November 5, 2002: Georgia House speaker Tom Murphy, and Texas House Elections Committee chair Debra Danburg.

INITIATIVE RESULTS

Several ballot measures on November 5 would have altered election laws:

1. California: the voters defeated same-day registration.

2. Colorado: the voters defeated same-day registration. They also defeated all-mail ballots. They also turned down a system to end the caucus system, by which candidates in primary elections who have support from a party meeting are automatically put on the primary ballot; whereas others must complete a difficult petition. But the voters approved restrictive campaign contribution limits in state races.

3. Massachusetts: public financing was repealed by the voters. Also, in two districts, voters told their legislators to support IRV.

4. Michigan: the straight-ticket device (also called the party lever, or the party circle) will continue to exist, because the voters voted for it.

5. Montana: a measure to make it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot passed. It creates a county distribution requirement.

6. Oregon: a measure to make it more difficult for initiatives to get on the ballot was approved. It bans paying circulators on a per signature basis.

MISSOURI WRITE-INS CANDIDATES WIN

On November 5, two write-in candidates were elected to Missouri city offices. Lana Wright was elected Alderman in Frontenac, and Kenny McClendon was elected councilman-at-large in Berkeley.

ELECTION RETURNS

The next issues of Ballot Access News will contain more November 5 election results for federal and state office. There are many interesting outcomes that have not been reported in the mainstream press. For example, over 400,000 votes were cast in Florida for Libertarian candidates for State House. This was over 10% of the vote cast in the state for that office.

2002 OCTOBER REGISTRATION TOTALS

The parties in the "Other" column are: in Alas., 17,798 Alaskan Independence and 3,045 Republican Moderate; Peace & Freedom in Cal.; Independent Pty. in Del.; Nebraska Party in Neb.; Independent Coalition in N.M.; these N.Y. parties: Independence 257,281, Conservative 163,314, Liberal 86,242, Right to Life 49,482, Working Families 15,763; Socialist in Ore.; Cool Moose in R.I.; Mountain in West Virginia. All data is Sep. or Oct., except that Maine and Pa. data is from June.

A dash means that the voters are not permitted to register into a particular party. A question mark means that the state has not tabulated the number of registrants in a particular party.

Totals summer 2002 were: Dem. 37,947,236 (42.85%), Rep. 28,804,361 (32.52%), Indp. & misc. 20,281,695 (22.90%), Constitution 325,828 (.37%), Green 246,854 (.28%), Libertarian 200,503 (.23%), Reform 81,208 (.09%), Natural Law 53,498 (.06%), other parties 624,295 (.70%).

Totals October 2000 were: Dem. 38,529,264 (43.84%), Rep. 28,813,511 (32.78%), Indp. & misc. 18,999,126 (21.62%), Constitution 348,977 (.40%), Libertarian 224,713 (.26%), Green 193,332 (.22%), Reform 99,408 (.11%), Natural Law 61,405 (.07%), other parties 620,668 (.71%).

Totals October 1998 were: Dem. 37,425,660 (44.94%), Rep. 27,695,767 (33.26%), Indp. & misc. 16,804,922 (20.18%), Constitution (then called U.S. Taxpayers) 317,510 (.38%), Reform 245,831 (.30%), Libertarian 179,255 (.22%), Green 118,537 (.14%), Natural Law 70,032 (.08%), other parties 424,101 (.51%).

Totals October 1996 were: Dem. 36,946,324 (45.68%), Rep. 27,323,046 (33.78%), Indp. & misc. 15,227,612 (18.83%), Constitution 306,900 (.38%), Reform 207,933 (.26%), Libertarian 162,545 (.20%), Green 112,199 (.14%), Natural Law 85,853 (.11%), other parties 328,833 (.63%).

2004 PETITIONING FOR PRESIDENT

• #Candidate procedure allows partisan label. Other nationally-organized parties on statewide are Socialist, Soc. Workers, Southern, & Workers World, in Fla.
• "Est." means "estimated". "(reg.)" means the state requires a party to have a certain number of registered voters, as opposed to a petition.

2002 VOTE FOR THE OFFICE AT TOP OF BALLOT

Ak.: Alaskan Independence 2,175; Republican Moderate 1,495. Del.: Independent. D.C: Soc. Workers. Fla.: Christian 44; Soc. Workers 24. Hi.: Free Energy. Minn.: 364,534 Independence; Soc. Workers 3,026. Neb.: Nebraska Party. N.J.: Conservative 6,371; Soc. 2,663. N.Y.: Independence 633,582; Right to Life 42,990; Marijuana Reform 22,574; Liberal 16,528. Vt.: Progressive 1,380; Grassroots 771; Liberty Union 625.

MINOR PARTIES WON LOCAL ELECTIONS

Green Party: besides the Maine legislative election win on page one, the Green Party won another partisan election in Providence, Rhode Island, for city council. David Segal was elected in a 4-person race with 37.5% of the vote, defeating a Democrat, Republican and Independent.

35 Greens were elected to non-partisan office on November 5, including a County Council seat in Hawaii County, Hawaii, which was a partisan office until it was made non-partisan a few years ago. The party also elected a County Commissioner in Winona County, Minnesota. Also, a Green was elected Mayor of Cass Lake, Minnesota, and Greens won for city council in these California cities: Apple Valley, Arcata, Berkeley, Buellton, Point Arena, Santa Monica, Santa Cruz, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Truckee, and Yucaipa. Other offices were won in Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina and Texas.

Libertarian Party: won five partisan races: (1) San Miguel County, Colorado, sheriff; (2) San Miguel County Coroner; (3-4) two Grand Isle Co., Vermont, Justices of the Peace; (5) Needham Township Bd., Johnson Co., Indiana.

36 Libertarians were elected to non-partisan office on November 5: California (24), Florida (4), Georgia (1), North Carolina (6) and South Carolina (1). These included two city council seats, in Moreno Valley, California, and Hoschton, Georgia. Most of the wins were to special-purpose governmental bodies, such as Park or Soil Boards.

Independence Party of Minnesota: besides a State Senator, elected a County Commissioner in Chisago County.

N.Y. PARTY MAY ALTER PRIMARY

The New York Independence Party will decide on February 1 whether to invite all registered independent voters to vote in its primary. In the past, all New York primary elections, for all parties, have been "closed", which means only registered members of those parties could vote in party primaries.

CHANGES IN PARTY BALLOT STATUS

Relative to December 1, 2000, the following changes have occurred in party ballot status:

1. Constitution: has gained Michigan, and lost Delaware, Kansas, New Mexico and Vermont.
2. Green: has gained Mississippi and lost Alaska, Iowa, New York and Texas. The party has also upgraded its status in New Mexico from qualified minor party, to qualified major party.
3. Libertarian: has gained Hawaii, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina; has lost Alabama, Maryland, South Dakota and Texas. The party has also upgraded its status in Wyoming from qualified minor party to qualified major party, and now has semi-status in Pennsylvania so that its registrants will be tallied.
4. Natural Law: has gained Michigan, and lost New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont.
5. Reform: has lost California, Idaho and South Dakota.

Leaders of the Kansas Reform Party are considering affiliating that state party with the national Constitution Party.

One-state parties: these parties lost qualified status: Republican Moderate in Alaska, Liberal and Right-to-Life in New York, and Cool Moose in Rhode Island. A new party, the Independent Democratic Party, has just gained qualified status in Florida.

ERRATA: the Nov. 1 B.A.N. omitted two candidates from its State House chart. There were 10 Greens in Pennsylvania, not 9; and there was a Reform nominee in Wisconsin. These corrections have been made to the online version.