US Court of Appeals Loss in Debates Case

June 10th, 2005

On June 10, the US Court of Appeals, DC circuit, reversed the lower court decision that had told the Federal Election Commission to re-visit the question of whether the Commission on Presidential Debates is biased against minor parties. The decision is here.



Minnesota Bill Signed

June 10th, 2005

On June 3, Minnesota’s Governor signed HF 1481, which provides a third means for a party to obtain or keep “qualified status”.

Colorado Veto Puts Lawsuit Back Into Play

June 10th, 2005

The veto of Colorado HB 1147 (the bill liberalizing the rules on who can be a petition circulator) has revived a pending lawsuit in federal court, Koehler v Davidson, 04B-1377. The lawsuit challenges Colorado law that won’t let anyone circulate a petition outside his or her home district. The plaintiffs wants to help get a Democratic candidate on the primary ballot, by carrying his petition, but they live outside the district. The judge had put the suit on hold since he knew the legislature was in the process of repealing the restriction. But now that the bill has been vetoed, the lawsuit will proceed.

HR 1316 Advances in Congress

June 9th, 2005

HR 1316, a campaign finance bill, passed the US House Administration Committee on June 8. It is co-sponsored by Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana) and Rep. Albert Wynn (D-Maryland). It will probably receive a vote in the full House in July.

Current law controls the amount of money an individual can give to political parties in support of that party’s federal campaigns. Current law sets these limits for every two-year period: $53,400 to the national committee of a political party; $53,400 to the same party’s senate campaign committee; and $53,400 to the same party’s house campaign committee. Also, the same individual can give $20,000 to a state political party for use in federal races.

However, current law says the combined total that an individual can give in a two-year period to all these party committees is capped at $101,400. HR 1316 removes this cap. Therefore, if someone as wealthy as Ross Perot were financing the birth of a new political party, that individual (if the bill passes) could give $1,180,200 to that new party for federal campaign activity, instead of only $101,400, in a 2-year period.

First Circuit to Hear Rhode Island Campaign Speech Issue

June 8th, 2005

On June 9, the US Court of Appeals, 1st circuit (Boston) will hear Laffey v Begin, 05-1750. The issue is whether state and federal campaign laws can be used to force a public official to give up his talk radio show. The Rhode Island Board of Elections ordered Stephen Laffey to stop being a radio talk show host, on the grounds that he is Mayor of Cranston and a potential (but undeclared) candidate for U.S. Senate next year. The Board claims that since the radio station doesn’t charge him for being a talk show host, the station is making an in-kind campaign contribution to him. On May 18, the US District Court had refused to issue a temporary injunction that would have kept the Mayor’s show on the air. The Mayor is a conservative Republican.

Louisiana Surprise

June 7th, 2005

On June 7, the Louisiana House Governmental Affairs Committee passed SB 53, but in a drastically different form. SB 53 in its latest incarnation changes the state’s congressional elections to a semi-closed primary system, a big change from the current system.

Senator Cleo Fields, author of SB 53, introduced it earlier this year as a bill to set up semi-closed primary elections in congressional elections, and in that form, it passed the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. But then he changed the bill into a version of the “top-two” system (but with a timing difference), and in that form it passed the House last month. Now the bill is back to its original version. If it passes the House in this latest version, it will then need to go back to the Senate to see if the Senate concurs.

Nevada Assembly Accepts Senate Amendments

June 7th, 2005

On June 1, the Nevada Assembly concurred in the benevolent Senate amendments to AB 455 (see posting below on Nevada, from May 31).

Colorado Governor Vetoes Good Bill

June 7th, 2005

On June 1, Colorado Governor Bill Owens vetoed HB 1147, which would have eased restrictions on who can circulate a petition. The bill would have let any adult U.S. citizen who is a resident of Colorado circulate any kind of petition, anywhere in the state. Governor Owens said he vetoed the bill for two reasons: (1) he feels that petitions to get a candidate on the ballot in a partisan primary should only be circulated by members of that party; (2) he favors requiring circulators to wear a badge indicating whether they are being paid or not.

The current Colorado laws on who can circulate a petition (for initiatives, anyway) were held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1999 in Buckley v American Constitutional Law Foundation. The Governor said the laws held unconstitutional ought to be repealed, but that there is no reason to repeal other such laws that have not yet been declared unconstitutional.

Next Entries »

 

  

Paper Issues:

Blog Archives Syndication

Subscribe to Ballot Access News via PayPal. Subscriptions are $15 for 12 issues a year ($20 foreign). Additional donations are welcome.

Subscribe to Ballot Access News via PayPal.
If you use your credit card to pay via PayPal, use this button.
New Feature:
Search Ballot Access News

Search ballot-access.org
Search WWW

 
Access to this site is free. Your donations support this site and the activities of Richard Winger in lobbying for free and open elections.

To subscribe via mail, click here and print out the form to mail.

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.

Issues available:

2008:

2007:

2006:

2005:

2004:

2003:

2002:

2001:

2000:

1999:

1998:

1997:

1996:

1995:

1994:

1993:

  • 1993 Issues not yet available online

Essays by Richard Winger:

Additional articles/essays:

  • 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.