Alaska Party Rights Victory

August 12th, 2005

On August 12, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that if parties desire to have a blanket primary in conjunction with certain other parties, they may do so, notwithstanding state election law. Green Party of Alaska v State, S11272. The Green and Republican Moderate Parties had filed this lawsuit in 2002, saying they wanted to share a primary ballot, and invite all registered voters to use that ballot. Later the Democratic, Libertarian, and Alaskan Independence Parties had joined the case, and in 2004 the Green, Democratic, Libertarian and Alaskan Independence Party had used a blanket primary ballot. The Republicans had their own ballot, and the Republican Moderate Party by then was no longer qualified.

The decision was 5-0.

Still pending in the Alaska Supreme Court is the other lawsuit, over whether the state’s definition of “political party” is too strict or not. That is also called Green Party of Alaska v State.



Michigan Bill Introduced

August 12th, 2005

On August 10, Michigan state rep. Leon Drolet introduced HB5082, which would relax the law concerning the deadline for a qualified minor party to certify the name of its presidential and vice-presidential candidates to the Secretary of State. Current law requires that the names be certified within one business day after the national convention ends. The bill would say that the parties must certify the names no later than 60 days before the general election. Last year, the Libertarian Party failed to certify the names of its national ticket to the Secretary of State within one day after the close of the convention, because the state party officers were driving home to Michigan from Atlanta, Georgia, a trip which took longer than one day. However, the Michigan Secretary of State overlooked this technical transgression.

Ohio Libertarians Recruit Prestigious Candidate for Governor

August 12th, 2005

The Ohio Libertarian Party’s candidate for Governor of Ohio in 2006 will be Dr. Bill Peirce, Economics Professor Emeritus of Case Western Reserve University. He was Chairman of the Economics Department at Case Western for 6 years, and has degrees from both Harvard and Princeton.

If the Ohio Libertarian Party wins its ballot access in the 6th circuit, the party may possibly be ordered onto the 2006 ballot. The hearing is Wednesday, September 14 in Cinncinnati, in the morning.

Arkansas Again Says it will Defy 1996 Court Ruling

August 12th, 2005

In 1996, a U.S. District Court ruled that the number of signatures needed for a new party in Arkansas (3% of the last gubernatorial vote, or about 22,000 signatures) violates the U.S. Constitution. Citizens to Establish the Reform Party in Arkansas v Priest, 970 F Supp 690. On August 10, 2005, Arkansas Attorney General ruled that the state need not obey the 1996 court ruling.

The Attorney General’s Opinion is 16 pages long, but it never acknowledges that a specific finding of law in the 1996 opinion (#18, on page 698) says that the number of signatures is invalid, without regard to the petition deadline. Instead, the Attorney General Opinion quotes from some of the decision’s findings of fact, which seem to indicate that the number of signatures was invalid only in conjunction with the early deadline. The state had cured the deadline defect but has never amended the number of signatures.

The Attorney General’s Opinion acknowledges that the same U.S. District Court judge repeated his finding in 2001 in Green Party of Arkansas v Priest, 159 F Supp 2d 1140 (a decision that also struck down the inability of the state to have any procedures for a new party to get on the ballot in an odd-year special election). But he says that this was just “dicta”.

The Attorney General also suggests that only a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling is binding on the state. He ignores the fact that Arkansas did file notice of appeal in the 1996 case to the 8th circuit, and then abandoned its own appeal. In any event, even U.S. District Court findings that laws are unconstitutional are binding, if the state doesn’t appeal them.

Finally, the Attorney General’s Opinion contradicts a Secretary of State’s ruling earlier this year, which said that since the 2003 legislature had eliminated the law explaining what the deadline is for a new party petition is, but retained the law saying a party petition must be completed in 5 months, that therefore a new party petition can be circulated in any 5 months period.
The Attorney General Opinion says the Secretary of State was wrong, but does not explain a basis, nor does he say what the start period and the deadline should be.

If this posting is difficult to understand, one can only say that is because one doesn’t ordinarily expect state officials to issue rulings of such poor reasoning quality. The ruling seems to be from Alice in Wonderland’s world.

San Diego City Council set to ban write-ins in run-offs

August 9th, 2005

On August 8, the San Diego city council voted to ban write-in votes in city run-off elections. The bill passed unanimously. Even Donna Frye voted for it, even though she was herself a write-in candidate for Mayor in the November 2004 mayoral run-off.

Partial Victory in Post Office Petitioning Case

August 9th, 2005

On August 9, the US Court of Appeals, DC circuit, issued its opinion in Initiative and Referendum Institute v US Postal Service, 04-5045. By a vote of 3-0, that Court ruled that at least some post office sidewalks are public fora. They also concluded that petitioning cannot be banned on such sidewalks. These would be sidewalks that people would use, even if they weren’t going to the post office building itself. They would be sidewalks that are parallel to streets.

The Court of Appeals remanded the case back to the US District Court (which had upheld the postal regulation) to determine whether a substantial portion of all post office-owned sidewalks are the type of sidewalks that are parallel to streets. If the answer is “yes”, then the postal regulation is unconstitutional on its face. It seems obvious that the answer will be “yes”.

Probably the post office will now re-write its regulation, rather than going through the expense and uncertainty of more litigation. The probable outcome will be a new postal regulation that differentiates between types of sidewalks; or possibly the post office will just drop its ban on petitioning on its own sidewalks.

The court did not say that the interior sidewalks are necessarily off-limits to petitioning. This has not been decided yet. The decision will be in effect when the government’s 45-day period to ask for a rehearing is up (Sep. 23).

Continuity in Representation Act Signed

August 8th, 2005

On August 2, President Bush signed HR 2985 into law. It requires the states to hold special elections to fill vacancies in the US House, within 47 days after any event which causes the death of at least 100 members of the House. Congress had approved the bill on July 26. The bill passed 305-122 in the House, and 96-4 in the Senate.

Badnarik Announces Congress Bid

August 8th, 2005

On August 6, Michael Badnarik (who was the Libertarian Party presidential nominee last year) announced that he will run for US House, Texas 10th district, next year.

Libertarian Party De-Couples Membership and Dues

August 7th, 2005

Meeting in Kansas City on August 6-7, the Libertarian Party’s national committee altered the definition of “membership” in the national party. National membership will no longer be linked to the payment of national dues. Dues had been $25 per year for decades, and earlier this year they had been raised to $50. The Libertarian Party, along with the various parties that hold themselves out as socialist, had been the only nationally-organized parties in the U.S. in which dues were required for membership.

New York city mayoral election

August 6th, 2005

The New York city mayoral election this November will probably include six candidates on the ballot. The Working Families, Conservative, Libertarian and Socialist Workers Parties will each have their own nominee, in addition to the Republican and Democratic nominees. Incumbent mayor Michael Bloomberg, a Republican, is expected to win the Republican Party and also have the nomination of the Independence Party and the Liberal Party.

This will be the first important elected office for which the Working Families Party has not cross-endorsed the Democratic nominee (the Democratic nominee will be chosen in a September primary). The Working Families Party has already decided to run its own candidate, Kevin Finnegan. The Conservative Party has also decided to run its own candidate, Tom Ognibene.

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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!

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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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