Arizona Committee Will Hear Restrictive Bill Today

January 31st, 2005

The Arizona State Senate Judiciary Committee will hear SB 1218 on the afternoon of Jan. 31. The hearing convenes at 1:30 pm, but SB 1218 will probably not be brought up until about 3:30 pm. SB 1218, sec. 6, says that if an independent candidate tries and fails to get on the ballot, then he or she can’t be a write-in candidate either. The bill seems aimed at Nader supporters. Nader tried and failed to qualify as an independent. Later, he filed for write-ins and status and received 2,773 write-in votes. If this bill had been in effect, these votes would not have been counted.

If you wish to oppose SB 1218, you can fax the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, John Huppenthal, at 602-417-3157. His e-mail is jhuppenthal@azleg.state.az.us.



Federal Court Rules that State Initiative Requirement Cannot be Raised During the Lifetime of a Petition Drive

January 29th, 2005

Yesterday, a US District Court in Nevada ruled that once a petition drive has begun (in this case, for initiatives), the state cannot change the numerical requirement during the lifetime of that petition, even if a new election is held so that the new legal number of signatures is higher than the prior one.

Plaintiffs were backers of several initiatives that had been circulating during 2004. The proponents were legally permitted to finish the drive as late as December 2004, to qualify for the November 2006 ballot. Unfortunately, when they submitted the signatures in December 2004, the state said, “Sorry; the number of signatures depends on the last vote cast, and the number of votes cast in November 2004 (which is much higher than the 2002 number) now applies. The decision means that an initiative to legalize marijuana, and two initiatives dealing with tobacco, will now appear on the November 2006 ballot, unless of course the state appeals and gets the decision reversed.

Vermont Bill for Instant-Runoff Voting Introduced

January 28th, 2005

Vermont is considered the state most likely to pass Instant-Runoff voting for federal and state elections. Both houses of the legislature are controlled by the Democratic Party, and the Democratic Party of Vermont seems committed to IRV. S. 48, to create IRV in Vermont, has just been introduced.

Cruel Election Law Bill Introduced in Arizona

January 26th, 2005

State Senator Marilyn Jarrett has introduced SB 1218, which makes many miscellaneous election law changes. Among the change is a provision that if someone tries to get on the ballot as an independent candidate, and fails, then that person may not file to have his or her write-in votes counted.

The bill seems aimed at Nader voters. Nader tried and failed to qualify as an independent in Arizona. He then filed for write-in status, and elections officials tallied 2,773 write-ins for him. Under Jarrett’s bill, these voters would not have had their write-ins tallied. Anyone who wishes to try to persuade Senator Jarrett to drop this provision, can reach her at mjarrett@azleg.state.az.us. Her capitol office phone is 602-928-5288. She is a Republican and a member of the Heartland Institute.

Disputed San Diego Election Will Have Trial

January 25th, 2005

A trial will be held, starting January 31, to help Judge Michael Brenner decide who won the San Diego mayoral election last November. Brenner is a visiting superior court judge from Orange County; all of the San Diego County judges recused themselves. Although some of the issues are legal, others are factual, concerning the extent to which voters were told that write-ins would not count unless they checked the box next to the name written in.

Vermont Newspaper Spotlights Progressive Party State Legislators

January 23rd, 2005

The Vermont Progressive Party has 6 state legislators, the largest delegation of state legislators that any minor party has had in any state since 1944. Here is a link to that article.

High Court Hears Oklahoma Libertarian Case; Outcome Difficult to Predict

January 22nd, 2005

On January 19, the US Supreme Court heard Clingman v Beaver, the case filed by the Oklahoma Libertarian Party in 2000. The issue is whether a party (which is entitled to nominate by primary) has the right, under the First Amendment freedom of association clause, to invite all registered voters to vote in its primary.

The US District Court had said “No”, but the US Court of Appeals, 10th circuit, had said “Yes”. The state of Oklahoma then appealed to the US Supreme Court.

At the hearing, Justice Antonin Scalia at first was hostile to the position of the Libertarian Party. However, as time went on, he became taciturn and appeared to be listening carefully to the attorney for the Libertarians, Jim Linger. Justices Souter, Kennedy, O’Connor and Stevens seemed sympathetic to the party. Justice Ginsburg and Breyer seemed undecided, and Justice Thomas was silent.

A much more detailed analysis will be printed in the Feb. 1, 2005 Ballot Access News.

San Diego Write-in Hearing to be held on Monday, Jan. 24

January 22nd, 2005

On January 24, a visiting California Superior Court Judge from Orange County will hold a hearing in the case over who won the San Diego mayoral election.

US Supreme Court Releases Conference Date for Nader Oregon Case

January 21st, 2005

The US Supreme Court will consider whether to hear Ralph Nader’s Oregon ballot access case at its conference of February 18. A decision as to whether that Court will accept the case will probably be announced on February 21. The issue is whether it is constitutional for an election official to create new rules for petition validity, after the petition has already been submitted. Kucera v Bradbury, no. 04-872.

Ohio Secretary of State Corrects Mis-label Problem in Election Returns

January 21st, 2005

Yesterday, the Ohio Secretary of State’s office corrected a small but irritating problem with that state’s official 2004 election returns on the web.

Michael Badnarik and Michael Peroutka appeared on the Ohio ballot with the label “other-party candidate”, in accordance with a law passed in 2002. Although it seems silly that they didn’t have the labels “Libertarian” and “Constitution”, even “other-party candidate” on the ballot was an improvement under the old law, which said they could have no label at all.

But, until January 20, the Ohio Secretary of State election returns on the web labeled Badnarik and Peroutka as “non-partisan”, an absurd label for two candidates who were the nominees of political parties. The Secretary of State web page was corrected after complaints, so that it now bears the same labels that were on the November ballot.

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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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  • 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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