Nevada Primary Date Bill Advances

May 31st, 2005

On May 27, the Nevada State Senate passed AB 455. It moves the Nevada primary from early September to mid-August. Fortunately, the Senate deleted all the provisions of the bill that force minor parties (which nominate by convention) to nominate their candidates any earlier. The Assembly version of the bill had even required minor parties to certify their presidential candidates by mid-June. The Senate also deleted a provision advancing the deadline for independent candidates. The bill now returns to the Assembly to see if the Assembly agrees with the Senate changes.

AB 455 also eases the deadline for potential candidates to change parties. Existing law won’t let candidates seek a party nomination (major or minor) if they changed parties later than Septemer 1 of the year before the election. The bill moderates that deadline to December 31 of the year before the election.

Credit for improving the bill in the State Senate goes to Janine Hansen of the Constitution Party, who is a full-time lobbyist in the Nevada Capitol.



Illinois Bill Passes

May 30th, 2005

On May 28, Saturday, the Illinois legislature gave final approval to HB 1968. Among other provisions, it reduces the signature requirements for citywide office in Chicago, from 25,000 signatures, to 12,500 signatures.

The citywide Chicago offices have been conducted on a non-partisan basis starting in 1999. Back when these offices were partisan, only minor party and independent candidates needed 25,000 signatures to run for Mayor and the other citywide Chicago offices. By contrast, Democrats only needed about 3,000 signatures, and Republicans only needed about 1,000 signatures.

But when the 1995 legislature switched these offices to be non-partisan, the new law was carelessly drafted, and suddenly all candidates, even major party members, needed 25,000. Now that everyone had to get 25,000 signatures, good-government groups began criticizing the requirement. Finally, the legislature has responded to the criticism and cut the requirement in half.

N.J. February Pres. Primary Bill Moves Ahead

May 27th, 2005

On May 26, the New Jersey Senate State Government Committee passed two bills to move the presidential primary from June to the last Tuesday in February, SB 2402 and SB 1297.

Iran Politician Criticizes U.S. Ballot Access Laws

May 26th, 2005

The May 25 New York Times carries a story about Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, considered the front-runner in the Iran presidential election next month. Rafsanjani is quoted as saying, “There is only a veneer of democracy in the United States. Election laws are so complicated that people have no choice but to vote for one of the candidates who are with one of the two parties.”

Minnesota Eases Definition of “party”

May 26th, 2005

On May 23, the Minnesota legislature passed HF 1481, which adds another means for a group to gain or keep qualified party status. The bill says a group is a qualified party if it runs at least 45 candidates for state house, 23 for state senate, 4 for US House, and one statewide office (all in a gubernatorial election year). It doesn’t matter how many or how few votes they poll; just running this number of candidates gives a group qualified status for the next 4 years.

The old law says a party is either a group that polled 5% for any statewide race (at either of the last two elections), or which submits a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast. In Minnesota, groups that use the independent procedure can choose a partisan label. Historically, in Minnesota, every time a group has gained status as a qualified party in Minnesota, it has been by running an independent candidate with a partisan label, and having that candidate poll 5%. Independent candidates only need 2,000 signatures.

The 5% petition procedure, passed in 1913, is so difficult, it has never been used, but that doesn’t matter so much, since there has been another way to become a qualified party. And now, there are two other ways to become a qualified party.

It is no easy task for any group to run 73 candidates for state office, especially if it isn’t already a qualified party. For a group that isn’t already a qualified party, the group will need 73 different independent petitions, which cumulatively adds up to 40,000 signatures, which must all be collected in a 2-week window. So the practical impact of the new procedure will probably not be very great.

The motivation for the new law seems to be a Republican Party attempt to encourage lots of Green candidates. The Green Party losts its status as a party in 2004 because it had failed to poll 5% for any statewide race in either 2002 or 2004. The Green Party did not ask for this particular bill and was just as surprised as everyone else when the legislature passed the idea.

US Supreme Court Rules Against Oklahoma Libertarian Party

May 23rd, 2005

On May 23, the US Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma state law, against a Libertarian Party challenge. Specifically the court upheld a law that does not permit a qualified party to invite members of other parties to vote in its primary. The vote was 6-3. Justice Thomas wrote the opinion.

However, two of the Justices who voted to uphold the law, Justices O’Connor and Breyer, wrote separately to say that state laws that make it difficult for minor parties and independents to get on the ballot may very well be unconstitutional. O’Connor wrote that if all the election laws of Oklahoma that impact on minor parties had been brought into the case at the first stage, the decision might well have been different. This is the first time Justice O’Connor has expressed any sympathy or interest in minor party ballot access problems.

The 3 dissenting justices (Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg) also were critical of state election laws that make it difficult for minor parties and independent candidates to get on the ballot or otherwise carry out successful election campaigns. Therefore, an actual majority of the court (the 2 concurrers, and the 3 dissenters) have now expressed support for attempts to strike down restrictive ballot access laws. This is the first time a majority of the Court has been sympathetic to minor parties since 1992.

Also on May 23, the US Supreme Court refused to hear Ralph Nader’s ballot access case against Oregon, Kucera v Bradbury. Justice Breyer voted to hear it, but it takes 4 justices to agree to hear a case.

Oregon Senate Passes Bill for Non-Partisan State Elections

May 22nd, 2005

On May 20, the Oregon State Senate passed SB161, which makes all elections for state office in that state non-partisan. The bill passed 20-10. 14 Democrats and 6 Republicans voted for it.

Lawsuit Filed Against “Top Two” Primary in Washington

May 19th, 2005

On May 19, the Republican Party of Washington state filed a lawsuit in federal court against the “top two” primary system passed by the voters in Washington last November. Washington State Republican Party v Logan, 05-927-Z, Seattle. About ten counties in Washington will be holding partisan elections for county office this year, and the lawsuit will thus be processed fairly quickly. The Democratic and Libertarian Parties also filed papers asking to intervene on the side of the Republican Party.

North Carolina IRV Bill Advances

May 18th, 2005

On May 18, the North Carolina House passed HB 1024, which lets ten counties experiment with Instant-Runoff Voting in primary elections. The vote was 79-32.

Omnibus Ohio Bill Advances

May 18th, 2005

On May 17, the Ohio House of Representatives passed HB3, which, among other things, provides that voter registration forms should let voters register into particular parties. However, the bill provides that if the voter affiliates with a party that is not ballot-qualified, the voter should be deemed to be an independent. Similar practices have been held unconstitutional in New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma and Colorado. Since the list of members is useful to all political parties, not just qualified political parties, if HB 3 passes, will be subject to a legal attack by any unqualified party in Ohio that does run nominees (in 2004, such groups included the Libertarian and Constitution Parties). HB 3 also raises the fee for requesting a recount from $10 per precinct to $50 per precinct, a reaction to last year’s presidential recount.

 

 

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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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