Oregon May Legalize Fusion

June 30th, 2005

On June 30, the Oregon House of Representatives passed HB 3021 by a vote of 49-2. It would let two parties jointly nominate the same candidate. A candidate who was the nominee of two different parties would be listed once on the November ballot, with the names of both parties adjacent to his or her name. For example, John Doe, Libertarian/Democrat. The bill exists because of lobbying by the Libertarian Party.



Independence Party Victory Survives

June 30th, 2005

On June 27, the US Court of Appeals, 2nd circuit, refused to disturb the Independence Party’s victory last year, on the issue of whether the party had the right to let independent voters vote in its primary. One county unit of the Independence Party (Richmond County, which is Staten Island) had passed a resolution saying independents could vote in its primary for legislature. That 2004 primary was the first primary in New York state history in which independent voters could vote. The State Board of Elections had tried to persuade the 2nd circuit that the US District Court judge should not have issued the injunction that allowed independents to vote in the party’s primary. But on June 27, the 2nd circuit said the issue was moot. The state’s argument had been that only the full county committee, not just the county executive committee, had the right to make the rules change. The US District Court had said the executive committee had the power to make the rules change.

Alaska Bill Signed

June 30th, 2005

On June 27, the Governor of Alaska signed HB 94, which sets up Alaska’s first-ever procedures for independent presidential candidates to get on the ballot (a petition signed by 1% of the last vote cast). Until now, the only way independent presidential candidates could get on the ballot in Alaska was by starting a new party. In 1992, Ross Perot, an independent candidate, was forced to create the “No-Party Party” in Alaska.

Indiana Ends Subsidy to Dems, Reps

June 27th, 2005

On May 12, the Governor of Indiana signed SB 467, which ends a subsidy to political parties that polled more than 10% of the vote in the last Secretary of State’s election. The subsidy consisted of most of the state revenues from the sale of personalized auto license plates. The Libertarian Party had sued against this subsidy back in 1984, but the courts had upheld it. However, it is now gone.

1st Circuit Ruling on Initiative Subject Matter

June 26th, 2005

On June 24, the First Circuit upheld a Massachusetts law that says the initiative process cannot be used to pass a new law pertaining to religious institutions. The same court also upheld a companion law, that the initiative process cannot be used to pass a new law mandating financial aid to private schools. The plaintiffs had wanted to circulate an initiative, providing for public funding for private schools. Wirzburger v Galvin, 04-1625.

Ohio Bill Delayed

June 22nd, 2005

Ohio’s Sub. HB 3, which (among other things) would provide that voters may register into particular parties on their voter registration forms, is likely to be tabled for the remainder of the summer.

Sub. HB 3 is an election law omnibus bill, but currently it has no ballot access improvements in it, even though three of Ohio’s ballot access laws are currently being litigated in the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6th circuit. Perhaps when the bill is taken up again in September or October, some of the ballot access problems can be addressed in the bill.

Florida Bill Signed

June 21st, 2005

On June 20, Florida’s Governor signed HB1567, which (among other things) clarifies the definition of “national political party”. A “national political party” can place its presidential nominee on the general election ballot with no petition, but the law in the past did not define “national political party”. The new law says it is a party that is on the ballot in at least one state other than Florida.

Jore Gets Editorial Support

June 21st, 2005

Rick Jore, Constitution Party candidate for the Montana legislature last year, was initially declared elected, until the State Supreme Court unseated him by ruling that 6 somewhat irregular ballots that had been counted for him were too ambiguous to be counted at all. Later the Montana Supreme Court ruled that Jore was responsible for paying over $15,000 in attorneys’ fees of the Democratic candidate. This, despite the fact that Jore had not sued anyone. He has just received editorial support from one of Montana’s biggest newspapers.

North Carolina Ballot Access Bills

June 16th, 2005

There are two bills in North Carolina to reduce the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for statewide office. H 1115 passed the House on May 17. It lowers the number of signatures for a statewide independent from 2% of the number of registered voters (approx. 100,000) to 2% of the last gubernatorial vote (69,734).

A better bill, H88, which lowers the statewide independent requirement to about 17,500, and also lowers the new party petition to the same number, has not made any headway lately but could still pass.

Schwarzenegger Opposes Write-in Bills

June 16th, 2005

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has informed the legislature that he is opposed to the bills that legalize write-in votes even when the voter fails to “X” the box next to the name written in. Senator Debra Bowen will press ahead with her bill on this subject, SB 1050. It has already passed the Senate. The sponsor of the Assembly bill on the same subject (AB 43), Assemblyman Juan Vargas, has given up this year.

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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.