6th Circuit Upholds March 1 Petition Deadline for Independents

November 30th, 2005

On November 29, the US Court of Appeals ruled 3-0 that Ohio may require independent candidates (for office other than president) to submit petitions by March 1 of an election year. Lawrence v Blackwell, 04-4022. The decision is only 6 pages long. It did not mention the US Supreme Court decision most relevant, Mandel v Bradley. Mandel v Bradley said early independent candidate petition deadlines are unconstitutional when the historical record shows that few independents qualify. In Ohio, no independent candidates qualified for congress in 17 of the 18 districts in 2004, and that was in the record. Earlier years are similar. The decision also failed to mention that 5 justices of the US Supreme Court this year said in Clingman v Beaver that courts should give heightened scrutiny to ballot access laws. And the decision failed to mention that in Anderson v Celebrezze, on page 805, the Court said that the political system works better when independent candidates are allowed to qualify after the major parties have chosen their nominees.



Louisiana Congressional Timing

November 28th, 2005

On November 28, the paperwork was filed in federal court in Louisiana, to determine whether the state’s new law on congressional timing is contrary to federal law.

In 1997 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Louisiana could not continue holding its congressional elections in September. Louisiana, the only state that uses the “top-two” system, had been holding congressional elections in September. Only in the rare cases when no one got 50% did Louisiana hold a run-off (which was held in November).

A federal law, on the books since 1872, tells the states they must have congressional elections in November. If a state desires the winner to always be someone who got 50%, the states may hold a run-off after the November date. After Louisiana lost the case, it started holding the first round in November. If a run-off was needed, it was in December.

But in 2005, the legislature passed a law reverting to the old illegal September-November system. The only difference between the 2005 law, and the old law that was invalidated, is that the new law says anyone elected in September is “deemed” to have been elected in November. Most neutral observers feel that the U.S. District Court which has jurisdiction of this old case will tell the legislature that the 2005 law is just as illegal as the old law was. The case is now in front of U.S. District Court Judge Frank Polozola. It is called Foster v Love.

First Ohio Green Gubernatorial Campaign

November 28th, 2005

Bob Fitrakis is expected to be the Green Party nominee for Governor of Ohio in 2006. He will attempt to qualify as an independent, since the petition to put a new party on the Ohio ballot is so difficult. Fitrakis is a Columbus attorney who has been active in fighting vote-counting fraud.

Two Additional Parties Won Partisan Elections on Nov. 8

November 25th, 2005

Besides the instances listed in an earlier post, two other minor parties won partisan elections on November 8, 2005. In Connecticut, the Chatham Party elected five candidates to the town council of East Hampton. The other two seats on the council were won by Republican nominees. The party takes its name from the old colonial name for East Hampton.

In Pennsylvania, the Prohibition Party re-elected Jim Hedges, its nominee for Thompson Township (Fulton County) Assessor. Besides being the Prohibition Party nominee, Hedges also won the major party nominations by write-ins at their primaries. Therefore he was unopposed in November.

New Mexico Independent Deadlines Now Earlier

November 24th, 2005

This year, the New Mexico legislature passed SB 678, which moves the independent presidential petition deadline from September to June, and also moves the deadline for non-presidential independent candidates from July to June. The bill did not affect the petition deadline for minor party nominee petitions. They continue to be due in July.

Courts in Alaska, Kansas, Nevada, Rhode Island, and South Dakota have previously ruled that independent presidential deadlines as early as June are unconstitutional. However, since then, courts in Texas and Arizona have upheld such deadlines.

Libertarians Won 19 Partisan Elections on Nov. 8

November 23rd, 2005

The Libertarian Party won 19 partisan elections in Pennsylvania on November 8, 2005, not one, as reported earlier. They include 7 township auditors, one constable, on township supervisor, one planning commissioner, and 9 precinct elections officials.

Reform Party Gets No Judicial Relief from its Debt

November 23rd, 2005

In 2000, the Reform Party received $2,522,690 from the U.S. government to pay for its national presidential convention. It was entitled to this money because it had polled over 5% for president in 1996.

In 2002, the Federal Election Commission audited the party, and determined that $333,588 was not properly spent, and should be returned to the U.S. treasury. On November 22, 2005, a U.S. District Court in Florida refused to disturb the FEC’s claim that the money is owed. The federal court in Florida said the only possible court to give the party any relief is the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., but that court had already denied any relief in 2003. The Florida court has forbidden the Reform Party national committee from spending any money until it repays the debt to the government. FEC v Reform Party, northern district of Fla., 1:04-cv-79.

Leading Law Firm Will Handle Illinois Appeal

November 23rd, 2005

The law firm Olson, Hagel & Fishburn has agreed to handle the appeal in Lee v Illinois State Bd. of Elections, in the 7th circuit. The Lee case challenges Illiniois law that says independent candidates for the legislature must submit a petition signed by 10% of the last vote cast. Olson, Hagel & Fishburn is one of the leading law firms in the nation for election law, and won the case called California Democratic Party v Jones in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000.

Illinois is the only state that requires a petition for independent candidates for any office in excess of 5% of the number of registered voters.

Massachusetts Initiative Likely to Qualify

November 23rd, 2005

An excellent initiative seems likely to have qualified in Massachusetts. It would legalize “fusion” (the practice of letting two parties jointly nominate the same candidate). Also, it would make it substantially easier for a party to remain qualified. The initiative needed 65,825 signatures, and proponents turned in 109,000.

Current law requires parties to poll 3% for one statewide nominee, every election. Many minor parties can easily meet this requirement in mid-term years, and can even meet it fairly regularly in presidential years if there is a U.S. Senate race up that year also. But in years like 2004, when the only statewide race was president, it is rare for minor parties to pass the test. For example, in 2004, both the Libertarian Party and the Green Party went off the ballot.

The initiative would change the vote test, so that a party can survive if it met the vote test at either of the last two elections.

Five Minor Parties Won Partisan Elections on November 8

November 18th, 2005

The Green Party won 12 partisan elections on November 8, 2005, for these offices: in Pennsylvania, Mayor of Boswell; Boro Council in Arendtsville; Township Auditor in Union Twp., Adams Co.; Boro Council in West Reading; Boro Council in Union Twp., Adams Co.; and 4 election inspectors.

In New York, Town Council in Chenango; Mayor in Cobleskill.

In Connecticut, Constable in New Canaan.

Libertarians won a Township Supervisor in London Britain Township, Chester Co.

The Working Families Party elected the city councilmember from the 3rd ward in Albany, New York. Although the winner, Corey Ellis, is a registered Democrat, he was solely the nominee of the Working Families Party, and he defeated the Democratic nominee.

Also, two local third parties won seats. The One New London Party elected two city council members in New London, Connecticut. The Hammonton First Party won all three city council seats in Hammonton, New Jersey, defeating its Republican and Democratic opponents.

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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:

  • 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.