Powerful California Politician Joins Fight for Alternative Voting Systems

March 31st, 2005

State Senator Debra Bowen, chair of the California State Senate Elections Committee, has introduced SB 596, to allow any city, county or school board in California to use Instant-Runoff or Choice Voting systems. Also, she has agreed to be the keynote speaker at Californians’ for Electoral Reform’s annual general meeting on May 14 (location not set yet).



Missouri Bill Passes State Senate

March 31st, 2005

SB 84 passed the Missouri State Senate on March 30. It repairs a drafting error in the state’s ballot access reform bill passed back in 1993. The intent of the 1993 law was to let parties petition for qualified status, and only then would they be required to choose their nominees, in convention. But due to an error back in 1993, the law excluded the right of such a party to nominate for president, unless it had listed candidates for presidential elector on the petition. SB 84 fixes the problem, and deletes the requirement that the electors be listed.

Oregon Write-in Counting Bill Introduced

March 30th, 2005

SB 1015 has just been introduced in the Oregon State Senate, by Senator Frank Shields. It restores the procedure by which a write-in presidential candidate can file a declaration of write-in candidacy, so that his or her write-ins will be tallied.

Oregon had a procedure like this in the past, but it was repealed in 1995. As a result, Oregon was one of 2 states in which Ralph Nader write-ins were permitted, but not counted. The other such state was Ohio. Ohio has a declared write-in candidacy procedure, but the deadline is so early, Nader missed it.

Arizona Legislative News

March 30th, 2005

HB2399, which would move the primary from September to August, and also move the deadline for independent candidates from June to May, has not advanced, and is considered dead.

SB1205, which makes it easier for a new party to get on the ballot in mid-term years, and which has already passed the Senate, also passed the House Education Committee today. Now it goes to the House Judiciary Committee.

Washington Court Sets Hearing Date for Gubernatorial Election Contest

March 28th, 2005

On April 5, a local Washington state court will hold a pre-trial conference in the case over who won the disputed gubernatorial election. Depositions are due April 18. The actual trial date will probably be set on April 5.

The only other two election contests still not settled (from the November 2, 2004) election are those for Mayor of San Diego, and for North Carolina State School Superintendent.

Bad Bill in Washington State Fails to Pass

March 25th, 2005

The Washington legislature failed to pass SB 5745 by the deadline, so it is dead. It would have cleaned up the technical errors in the “top-two” initiative that passed last year. The initiative, I-872, limits the general election ballot (for congress, state office and partisan county office) to only the two top vote-getters from the primary. I-872 passed despite opposition from the state’s minor parties. But I-872 is internally contradictory, due to major drafting errors.

The Washington legislature is empowered to alter the language of initiatives, and SB 5745 would have eliminated the errors in the initiative. Because the bill died, Washington faces the future with an election law that is impossibly muddled. The Secretary of State will now draft interim rules, which may or may not provide for minor party ballot access in the November election. There are partisan county elections in November 2005 in some counties of Washington state, so this will be addressed fairly soon.

Ballot Access Bills in 3 States Move Ahead

March 23rd, 2005

This week, ballot access improvement bills in Missouri, North Carolina, and North Dakota, have all made some headway.

In Missouri, SB84 has passed the Senate policy committee unanimously. It lets a new party that circulate the party petition decide for itself, after it has finished the petition, whether or not to run a presidential candidate. Current law, because of a drafting error made in 1993, forces such a party to list its presidential elector candidates on the party petition, which cuts down on the party’s flexibility.

In North Carolina, H88 passed the House Committee with only one “no” vote. It cuts petition requirements down to only one-fourth of the current requirements.

In North Dakota, HB1433 passed the Senate unanimously with the amendment that makes it possible for a new party to stay on the ballot in mid-term years, if it polls 5% for either Secretary of State or Attorney General. Since that bill wasn’t in the original bill, it must now return to the House.

In Tennessee, HB 1776, to allow labels for candidates who use the independent petition procedure, had a hearing on March 23. The legislators had many questions which could not be answered at the hearing, so another hearing will be held in a week.

Montana Supreme Court Explains Why it Unseated Jore

March 21st, 2005

Today, the Montana Supreme Court finally issued its explanation of why Rick Jore, Constitution Party nominee for the Montana legislature, was not actually elected last November. Back in December, that Court had unseated Jore, but had not explained why. The March 21 decision is 31 pages long, and says that when a voter fills in a bubble next to one candidate’s name, and then makes an “X” through that filled-in bubble and then fills in another bubble next to a rival candidate’s name, it is impossible to understand that voter’s intent. The vote was 6-1. The dissenting justice stressed that the local elections officials had unanimously agreed that they could understand voter intent in such a situation.

US Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Nader Texas Case

March 21st, 2005

This morning, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Nader v Connor, 04-918. The issues were whether it is constitutional for Texas to require more signatures for an independent presidential candidate than are needed for a new party or a statewide non-presidential independent; and whether it is constitutional for the state to require an independent presidential candidate to submit signatures two weeks before new party petitions are due. The lower courts had upheld these discriminatory ballot access laws.

North Dakota Bill Moves Forward

March 18th, 2005

On March 18, the North Dakota Senate Government & Veterans Affairs Committee amended HB 1433, to provide for a way for a party to remain on the ballot in a mid-term year. The bill, as amended, lets a party remain on the ballot if it polls 5% for Secretary of State or Attorney General. Under current law, it doesn’t matter how many votes a party gets in a mid-term year; if it’s a new party, it gets removed from the ballot no matter how well it does. That’s because under the old law, a party must poll 5% for Governor or President to remain on the ballot, and those offices aren’t up in mid-term years.

In the past, North Dakota elected all its statewide state offices in presidential years, but starting in 2006, it elects half of them in midterm years, including Secretary of State and Attorney General.

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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:

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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]

The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.