Washington Appeals Top-Two Case

July 30th, 2005

On July 29, Washington state, and the Grange, asked the 9th circuit to overturn the U.S. District Court ruling that the “top-two” primary violates the associational rights of political parties.

Also on July 29, the U.S. District Court issued its final order in the case, with details on how this year’s partisan elections will be held. The U.S. District Court did not grant a special Republican Party request. The Republican Party now has a bylaw, saying no one can have the word “Republican” on the Republican primary ballot, if that person did not get at least 25% of the vote at party endorsement meetings before the primary. Judge Zilly did not grant the party’s wish; he simply ignored it. Zilly did extend the petition deadline for minor party and independent candidates in this year’s partisan elections to August 27.



Oregon Primary Screen-out Signed Into Law

July 22nd, 2005

Unfortunately, on July 21, Oregon HB 2614 was signed into law by Governor Ted Kulongoski. It makes it illegal for any voter to sign an independent candidate petition and vote in the primary.

Ohio Court Dates Set

July 19th, 2005

The US Court of Appeals, 6th circuit, will hear Libertarian Party of Ohio v Blackwell on September 14, 2005. The issues are (1) whether a state can require a group to qualify as a party an entire year before the election; (2) whether the state can change the petition format slightly after a party is already circulating the petition, and then reject that petition because the form had been changed while the petition was circulating.

On September 23, the 6th circuit will hear Lawrence v Blackwell, the challenge to the state’s deadline for independent candidates (for office other than president). In 2004 that deadline was March 1. The case was brought by a Socialist Equality Party candidate for congress.

Bush Choice for US Supreme Court

July 19th, 2005

Judge John C. Roberts, Jr., of the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, has never heard a case involving minor parties or independent candidates, or any case on the rights of political parties in general. He has only been a Judge since June 2003. The D.C. circuit never gets ballot access cases. That circuit does sometimes hear cases involving cases involving presidential debates, but Roberts has never had such a case.

Missouri Governor Vetoes Ballot Access Bill

July 17th, 2005

Missouri’s Governor vetoed HB 525 several weeks ago. This is the bill that makes a small but important improvement in the state’s ballot access law. This site reported he had signed it. The error was the state’s; the legislative web page said he had signed it, when this was not true. This news is very disappointing. It is possible the legislature will override the veto in September.

Generally, a party that petitions for qualified status in Missouri (as in 38 other states) doesn’t need to print the names of its nominees on the petition itself. They are chosen later, after the group has qualified as a party. But Missouri law says the petition must name the candidates for presidential elector. The law is not the result of anyone’s thinking; it is just a typographical error in the law passed back in 1993.

Federal Court Says Top-Two Is Unconstitutional

July 17th, 2005

On July 15, U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Zilly declared that the Washington state “top-two” system is unconstitutional. Washington State Republican Party v Logan, 05-927-Z. The decision is a victory for the state’s Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties. The state said it would appeal to the 9th circuit. Assuming Judge Zilly’s ruling stands, this year’s partisan elections will be conducted using an open primary, such as the primaries used in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Idaho and Montana, and most southern states. Washington state does not have partisan registration.

Read the decision here.

New Mexico Good Ruling

July 12th, 2005

On July 12, New Mexico’s Secretary of State ruled that parties are not disqualified until they have failed the vote test twice in a row. Therefore, the Green and Constitution Parties are qualified in New Mexico for 2006.

Maine Releases Registration Data

July 8th, 2005

Maine’s Secretary of State has finally released the November 2004 registration data, the last state by far to do so. The new tally showed a significant increase in Green registration between June 2004 and November 2004, as well as modest increases in Democratic and independent registration, and a decrease for Republicans. Maine doesn’t tally now many members any other parties have.

Maine Greens now have 2.4% of that state’s registration. The only minor parties in any states with higher shares are the Alaskan Independence Party, the Independent American Party of Nevada (a unit of the Constitution Party), and the Independence Party of New York.

Democrats in Maine increased from 31.1% to 31.2%, whereas Republicans declined from 28.7% to 28.1%.

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Criticizes U.S.

July 8th, 2005

The OSCE (formal name for the Helsinki Accords) Parliamentary Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the U.S. for violating the accords, on July 5. Specifically, the U.S. was condemned for giving residents of the District of Columbia no voting representation in congress. 260 legislators from OSCE countries comprise the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly. This includes 12 members of congress from the U.S. Outside of the U.S. delegation, only two members voted against the resolution, a member from Canada and one from Denmark.

N.J. Presidential Primary Bill Signed

July 8th, 2005

On July 7, New Jersey’s Governor signed A30, which moves the state’s presidential primary from June to the last Tuesday in February. He also signed A38, which provides for a blank line on the voter registration form in the question about choice of “political party”. In the past, the voter registration form itself didn’t ask about the voter’s choice of political party, but a separate form associated with the voter registration form did ask. Because the two forms were separate, many voters didn’t deal with the second form, so a small proportion of New Jersey voters had been members of any party.

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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:

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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.