New Mexico Libertarians May Still Be a Qualified Party

January 20th, 2005

On January 18, the new chief of the New Mexico Elections Department, Ernest Ortega, told the New Mexico Libertarian Party that it is still ballot-qualified. However, this decision isn’t in writing yet. The Libertarian Party had thought it was disqualified in November 2004 for failing to poll one-half of 1% of the vote for president. It had only polled .31% for president.

The law is very confusing and has been interpreted in contrary ways in the past. It says a party is disqualified “If two successive general elections are held without at least one of the party’s candidates on the ballot or if the total votes cast for the party’s candidates for governor or president, provided that the party has a candidate seeking election to either of those offices, in a general election do not equal one-half of 1% for governor or president, as applicable.” The party did not have a candidate for governor on the ballot in 2002.



Oklahoma Ballot Access Reform Bill Introduced

January 20th, 2005

On January 19, Oklahoma Representative Marian Cooksey introduced House Bill 1429, which greatly eases ballot access for minor parties. Current law requires 5% of the last vote cast, which for 2006 is a staggering 73,188 valid signatures. The bill would reduce this to 5,000 signatures, which was the requirement in Oklahoma between 1924 and 1974. The bill also lowers the number of votes needed for a party to remain on the ballot, from 10% for president or governor (whichever was most recent) to 1%.

US Supreme Court Hears Oklahoma Primary Case

January 19th, 2005

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in the case to allow the Oklahoma Libertarian Party to invite non-affiliated voters to participate in the party’s primary.

A federal judge ruled the state law constitutional. However, a federal appeals court ruled that the free association guarantees of the First Amendment were violated by the semi-closed system.

Ballot Access News editor Richard Winger attended the hearing and will have a full report soon.

~ Eric Garris, Webmaster

Ohio Rejects Electronic Voting

January 13th, 2005

Yesterday, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell ruled that only optical-scan voting equipment will be used in the future in Ohio. This means that counties that already bought electronic vote-counting equipment must get rid of it.

5-Color Maps Show Minor Party Strong, Weak Areas

January 10th, 2005

Ballot Access News is selling an 8.5 inch by eleven inch map of the United States, showing all the counties, in 5 colors, illustrating the strong and weak areas for each of these 2004 presidential candidates: Ralph Nader, Michael Badnarik, Michael Peroutka, and David Cobb. The maps are $1.50 each, or $5 for all four maps. They do not include Alaska and Hawaii.

Send a check to Ballot Access News, PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147, or else use Paypal. If you use Paypal in connection with a credit card, use ban@richardwinger.com. If you don’t use a credit card in connection with paypal, use sub@richardwinger.com.

High Court Refuses to Hear Nader’s Pennsylvania Appeal

January 10th, 2005

Today, the US Supreme Court refused to hear Nader v Serody, no. 04-550. This was Nader’s appeal of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that kept him off the ballot last year.

The issue in the Pennsylvania case was somewhat inappropriate for the US Supreme Court. It was strictly a matter of proper interpretation of Pennsylvania state law, not a constitutional case. It is unclear whether Pennsylvania actually requires petition signers to be registered voters, or just eligible to register to vote. Nader’s US Supreme Court appeals from Texas and Oregon are still pending.

New Mexico Greens Are Still a Qualified Party

January 7th, 2005

On January 6, 2005, the New Mexico Secretary of State confirmed in writing that the New Mexico Green Party is still a qualified party. However, it is now a qualified minor party, not a qualified major party. This means it nominates by convention, not primary. It is still a qualified party because it polled over one-half of 1% for Governor in 2002.

San Diego Write-in Lawsuit Filed

January 7th, 2005

On January 6, 2005, supporters of Donna Frye filed a new lawsuit, to validate write-in votes for Frye that have been considered invalid votes. If the lawsuit succeeds, Frye will become Mayor, since she received more votes than any other candidate, but not all of them are considered valid. Lawrence v Murphy, GIC 840839. The lawsuit was filed by Fred Woocher, one of the leading election law attorneys in California.

Rick Jore’s Website Now Illustrates Disputed Ballots (revised post)

January 6th, 2005

Rick Jore’s website has 7 votes that were not marked strictly according to instructions, but which seem to show intent to vote for Jore. Nevertheless, the Montana Supreme Court invalidated all of these 7 votes.

Jore’s webpage also shows 2 votes that were not marked strictly according to instructions either, but which seem to show intent to vote for the Democratic candidate. These two ballots were, indeed, counted for the Democratic nominee.

US House Democrats Release Study of Ohio Vote

January 5th, 2005

Today, the Democratic (minority) staff of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee released a report, “Preserving our Democracy: What went Wrong in Ohio.”

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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!

Extra Features:

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]

The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.