2008 PETITIONING FOR PRESIDENT
(updated September 6, 2008)
TOTAL STATES ON THE BALLOT
Libertarian Party
Green Party
Constitution Party
Nader (Indep.)
42
31
33
39
 
     

British Columbia Almost Votes in Alternate Vote System

May 18th, 2005

On May 17, 57.2% of the British Columbia voters voted to change their voting system to a more proportional system. However, the law required the system to pass with 60%, so it didn’t pass. However, advocates for alternative voting systems are buoyed up by knowing that a substantial majority of the voters voted for the system, and new proposals will be brought forward.



Restrictive Oregon Bill Passes House

May 17th, 2005

On May 17, the Oregon House of Representatives passed HB 2614, which makes it illegal for a registered party member to sign an independent candidate petition. The vote was 45-11. The bill now goes to the Senate Rules Committee. The “no” votes were cast by 6 Democrats (Buckley, Galizio, March, Roblan) and 5 Republicans (Boquist, Bruun, Kropf, Nelson and Olson).

Louisiana Senate Passes Odd Bill on Congressional Election Timing

May 17th, 2005

On May 16, the Louisiana State Senate amended SB 53 and passed it 30-2. The original bill set up a closed primary system for congressional elections. The amended bill is entirely different. It restores Louisiana congressional elections to the schedule used between 1978 and 1996. All candidates run in October, and if anyone polls 50% or more, that person is deemed elected and no November election is held. If no one gets 50% in October, a run-off is held in November.

This is very odd behavior on the part of the State Senate, since the system SB 53 sets up was thrown out by the US Supreme Court in Foster v Love, 522 US 67 (1997), a unanimous decision. The US Supreme Court decision was based on the fact that an old federal law tells the states to hold their congressional elections in November. SB 53 tries to avoid the legal problem by saying that even when the first round in October produces a winner, the “winner” is not “declared elected” until November. This is laughable. The US Supreme Court decision said, “When the federal statutes speak of the election of a Senator or Representative, they plainly refer to the combined actions of voters and officials meant to make a final selection of an officeholder.” Holding an election in October but pretending that it didn’t happen until November is playing make-believe. It will be interesting to see what happens in the Louisiana House. In recent years, the Louisiana House has been friendly to closed primaries, whereas the Louisiana Senate has been the bastion of support for the non-partisan “top two” system.

Alabama Presidential Primary Bill Fails

May 17th, 2005

On May 16, the Alabama legislature adjourned. The legislature failed to pass HB 100, which would have moved the presidential primary from June, to the Saturday after the New Hampshire presidential primary. The legislature also failed to pass any of the ballot access reform bills.

Georgia Special Elections will carry Party Labels

May 16th, 2005

Last month Georgia HB 244 was signed into law. Among other things, it changes Georgia special elections. In the past, all Georgia special elections were non-partisan, even if the office is normally partisan (such as Congress or state legislature). All candidates in Georgia special elections qualify with no petition; they just pay the filing fee. Under HB 244, ballot access procedures remain the same for special elections, but now every candidate will be free to choose a partisan label to be printed on the ballot next to his or her name.

Alaska Bill Passes

May 16th, 2005

On Sunday, May 15, the Alaska legislature passed HB 94 in special session. However, the only ballot access improvement the bill makes is that it adds procedures for independent presidential candidates. Now Arkansas is the only state without such procedures.

HB 94 does not make it easier for a party to remain on the ballot. Therefore, Alaska still has the same irrational law that it passed in 2004. The law says a party can remain on if it has registration of 3% of the last vote cast, or if it polls 3% for Governor in gubernatorial election years, and 3% for US Senate in non-gubernatorial years. If US Senate isn’t up in non-gubernatorial years, then the US House vote is used.

This is an irrational law. The registration part of the law causes the requirement to fluctuate wildly between 6,500 registrants and 9,200 registrants, depending on whether the test if being applied before a presidential election year or a gubernatorial election year. And the vote test is irrational because it lets a party meet the vote test with a good showing for US Senate in presidential years, but not in gubernatorial years.

Oregon League of Women Voters Withdraws Support for Bad Bill

May 14th, 2005

On April 13, the Action Committee of the Oregon League of Women Voters withdrew its support for HB 2614. HB 2614 makes it illegal for voters who are registered party members to sign a petition for independent candidates. 75% of Oregon’s registered voters are members of a party, so this bill would make it virtually impossible for an independent to qualify in Oregon. Already, Oregon’s independent petition is more difficult than the independent candidate petition of the average state.

Ohio Presidential Recount

May 13th, 2005

David Cobb (2004 Green Party presidential nominee) and Michael Badnarik (2004 Libertarian presidential nominee) filed for a recount of Ohio’s presidential vote last year. Although a recount was done, it appears to have been done improperly. Cobb and the Kerry-Edwards Campaign filed a lawsuit to have it done properly. On May 10, the federal judge hearing the case transferred it from the southern district courthouse in Columbus, to the northern district courthouse in Toledo.

In the meantime, HB 3 is moving forward in the Ohio legislature. It would raise the fee for a recount from $10 per precinct to $50 per precinct. The bill, which does many other things as well, passed the House Elections Committee on May 11.

San Diego Write-in Lawsuit Withdrawn

May 13th, 2005

On May 12, supporters of Donna Frye, the write-in candidate for Mayor of San Diego last November, withdrew their lawsuit over whether all of her write-ins should be tallied. The issue was those write-ins in which the voter wrote her in, but forgot to “x” the box next to the write-in line. The Frye voters withdrew their lawsuit because there will be a special election for Mayor on July 26, 2005 anyway. Also, it is now likely that the California legislature will pass a bill to legalize that type of write-in vote. Bills to do that have each passed in the house of origin. They are AB 43 and SB 1050. Since the bills are not identical, one of them still must pass the other house. Withdrawing the Frye lawsuit makes it even more likely that one of the bills will be signed into law.

Missouri Bill Passes

May 13th, 2005

On May 12, the Missouri legislature passed HB 525, which (among other things) gives a newly-qualifying party the flexibility to decide whether to run a presidential candidate after it gets on the ballot. The old law required it to list candidates for presidential elector on its petition, which meant that it had to make a decision about whether to run such candidates before it started its petition drove.

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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]

The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.