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December 16th, 2005
On December 16, eight Libertarian residents of Jefferson County, Kentucky (Louisville) appeared together at the County Election Board, to re-register “Libertarian”. Under new Kentucky election regulations, members of certain unqualified parties will now be tallied, but only new registrations will count. The group had arranged for TV coverage. WHAS-TV (channel 11) filmed the group, and it is expected that it will be covered on that channel’s news program the evening of December 16.
December 15th, 2005
On December 15, Rep. Paul Froehlich introduced HB 4250, which cuts the number of signatures for an independent candidate for the legislature from 10% of the last vote cast, to 5%. The current Illinois requirement is the only one in the nation higher than 5% of the number of registered voters.
December 14th, 2005
Three Cook County Judges have sued to overturn an Illinois state law that requires them to file for re-election in December of the year before the election. The election itself is in November of even years. The judges missed the December 5, 2005 deadline. Fortunately for them, the Illinois Constitution says that deadlines for judges to file for re-election is six months before the election (May of even years). The Illinois Election Code has contradicted the State Constitution ever since 1977. One of the cases, O’Brien v White, circuit court, Cook Co., 05-coel 36, is set for a hearing on December 19.
December 14th, 2005
On December 16, Libertarian Party activists in Louisville, Kentucky, will all simultaneously appear in the County Election Board offices, to re-register as Libertarians. The party hopes the event will attract press attention. Kentucky is now tallying the number of registrants in active but unqualified parties for the first time, but there has been little publicity about it.
December 12th, 2005
The Canadian Green Party leader was not permitted to debate the leaders of the four larger Canadian political parties, last time Canada held a Parliamentary Election. The Greens of Canada are now carrying on a vigorous public relations campaign to get into the next national debate. The Green Party polled 4% of the vote in the last national election.
December 12th, 2005
On December 12, the U.S. Supreme Court voted to hear the Texas redistricting cases. Oral argument be on March 1, 2006. The issue is whether anything in the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from redrawing U.S. House districts in the middle of the decade for openly partisan reasons. The news was surprising and exciting. The Court had been pondering whether to take this case since October 2005. Technically, there are 4 cases combined, numbers 05-204, 05-254, 05-276 and 05-439.
December 12th, 2005
On December 10, the Oregon Democratic Party state committee narrowly rejected a proposal to invite registered independents to vote in the Democratic primary.
December 10th, 2005
On December 10, former U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy died. He was a pioneer in the cause of making U.S. elections freer. In December 1974 he declared as an independent presidential candidate in 1976. He insisted, as a matter of principle, that he was an independent, and would not create any new party, in any state, just to help get on the ballot. At the time, 14 states (Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Utah) had no procedures for an independent presidential candidate. McCarthy sued almost all of those states and forced them all to pass such procedures. The US Supreme Court itself put him on in Texas, even though he did not submit any signatures there (since there was no procedure to do that). McCarthy was also a participant in the lawsuit Buckley v Valeo, which struck down parts of the 1974 federal campaign finance law that set a ceiling on expenditures in federal elections.
December 9th, 2005
The national Libertarian Party’s ballot access fund has been in debt since 2004, but thanks to a recent fund appeal to the party’s national membership, the fund is now only $2,000 in debt, and donations are still coming in. The New Mexico Libertarian Party is the only state Libertarian party that has done any substantial petitioning on its own in the last six months.
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Welcome
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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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Issues
available: |
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2008:
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2007:
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2006:
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2005:
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2004:
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2003:
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2002:
- December
2002 Issue
(V:18– N:8)
- November
2002 Issue
(V:18– N:7)
- October
1, 2002 Issue (V:18 – N:6)
- September
1, 2002 Issue
(V:18 – N:5)
- August
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:4)
- July
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:3)
- June
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:2)
- May
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:1)
- April
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:13)
- March
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:12)
- February
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:11)
- January
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:10)
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2001:
- December
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:9)
- November
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:8)
- October
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:7)
- September
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:6)
- August
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:5)
- July
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:4)
- June
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:3)
- May
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:2)
- April
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:1)
- March
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:12)
- February
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:11)
- January
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:10)
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2000:
- December
5, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:9)
- November
16, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:8)
- October
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:7)
- September
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:6)
- August
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:5)
- July
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:4)
- June
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:3)
- May
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:2)
- April
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:1)
- March
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:12)
- February
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:11)
- January
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:10)
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1999:
- December
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:9)
- November
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:8)
- October
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:7)
- September
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:6)
- August
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:5)
- July
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:4)
- June
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:3)
- May
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:2)
- April
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:1)
- March
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:12)
- February
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:11)
- January
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:10)
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1998:
- December
8, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:9)
- November
8, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:8)
- October
4, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:7)
- September
4, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:6)
- August
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:5)
- July
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:4)
- June
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:3)
- May
7, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:2)
- April
5, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:1)
- March
8, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:12)
- February
8, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:11)
- January
5, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:10)
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1997:
- December
5, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:9)
- November
1, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:8)
- October
6, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:7)
- September
6, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:6)
- August
4, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:5)
- July
2, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:4)
BAN.
changed to a 12 issue per year schedule.
- June
2, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:3)
- May
5, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:2)
- April
7, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:1)
- March
10, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:13)
- February
10, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:12)
- January
12, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:11)
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1996:
- December
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:10)
- November
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:9)
- October
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:8)
- September
9, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:7)
- August
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:6)
- July
20, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:5)
- June
26, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:4)
- May
28, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:3)
- May
3, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:2)
- April
3, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:1)
- March
6, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:13)
- February
7, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:12)
- January
14, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:11)
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1995:
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1994:
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1993:
- 1993 Issues
not yet available online
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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. |
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