Greens Gain a City Councilman

April 29th, 2005

On April 29, Napa, California city councilman Harry Martin announced he had changed his registration from “Democrat” to “Green”.



Maine Bill Passes House

April 29th, 2005

LD 329, which makes it easier for a qualified party to gain and retain that status in Maine, passed the House on April 28.

OSCE Report on US Elections is Disappointing

April 26th, 2005

The Office of Security & Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has published its report on the U.S. election of November 2, 2004. The OSCE is the office that is supposed to enforce the Helsinki Accords. The report is disappointingly bland. It mentions many problems in U.S. election administration, including restrictive ballot access laws, but it does not actually criticize or condemn the U.S. for any of these problems. The only actual condemnation of the United States is its failure to let OSCE observers watch the polling process in most states.

Hawaii Bill Signed

April 23rd, 2005

On April 19, the Governor of Hawaii signed HB119, which eases the requirement that every signature on a petition must include the signer’s social security number. Now only the last 4 digits need be included.

Washington IRV Bill Signed

April 23rd, 2005

On April 22, Washington’s Governor signed HB 1447, which lets certain cities use Instant-Runoff Voting for city elections if they wish. The city most likely to do this soon is Vancouver.

Helpful D.C. Bill Introduced

April 21st, 2005

The Washington, D.C. city council will hold a committee meeting on April 22 to hear bill 16-236. It would provide that candidates seeking a place on either the primary ballot, or the general election ballot, could qualify by paying a fee instead of submitting a petition. The bill applies to all partisan offices in the District of Columbia except president. The bill does not eliminate provision for petitions, but provides a 2nd way to get onto the ballot. The highest fee would be $2,000 (for Mayor and Delegate to Congress).

New Party Rights Lawsuit Filed

April 20th, 2005

On April 15, a unit of the Virginia Republican Party filed a federal lawsuit, to enforce a party bylaw. The bylaw says no one can vote in the Republican primary if they voted in the Democratic primary for the preceding 5 years. Current Virginia state law requires that all primaries be open to all registered voters; Virginia has no registration by party. Miller v Brown, 3:05cv-266, eastern district.

Hew Hampshire Voters Kill HB 154

April 18th, 2005

On April 15, the New Hampshire Senate Public Affairs Committee voted against HB 154, the bill that would have forced independent voters who want to vote in a primary to affiliate with that party.

Alaska Supreme Court Explains Why it Kept Repubican Moderate Party Off 2004 Ballot

April 15th, 2005

On April 15, the Alaska Supreme Court released an explanation of why it removed the Republican Moderate Party’s candidate for U.S. Senate last year. State of Alaska v Metcalfe, S-11618.

The court ruled that Alaska’s old definition of “party” is constitutional. The old definition (which was changed in 2004, and which is in the process of changing again) was a group that had polled 3% for Governor, or which had registration equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. The Republican Moderate Party did not fulfil either of these hurdles. However, in September 2004, a lower court had put that party on the ballot. The lower court had ruled that since independent candidates only need a petition of 1%, the state could not require parties to meet a higher standard. But the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that since parties have more impact on the ballot than a single independent candidate does, the state is justified in having a higher threshold for a qualified party, than for a single independent candidate.

Pennsylvania Commission Recommends Ballot Access Improvement

April 15th, 2005

On April 21, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Task Force on Election Reform formally voted to include this recommendation: “That the Election code be amended to provide greater access to the ballot for minor political parties and political bodies.” The vote was 12 to 0, with one abstention.

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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]

The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.