Socialist Equality Party asks for Rehearing in Ohio Deadline Case

December 9th, 2005

On December 9, the Socialist Equality candidate for U.S. House (from last year’s election) asked for a rehearing in the 6th circuit. Last week the 6th circuit upheld Ohio’s petition deadline of March 1 for non-presidential independent candidates. The rehearing brief stresses that it is unprecedented for a court to approve of a system in which all routes to the November ballot are closed off as early as March 1. Lawrence v Blackwell, 04-4022.



COFOE website has letter to Alito

December 9th, 2005

The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) has written a letter to each Senator on the Judiciary Committee, about Judge Alito. See the letter at www.cofoe.org.

Helpful Press on December 9

December 9th, 2005

On December 9, Muskogee, Oklahoma’s daily newspaper, the Phoenix, editorialized in favor of easing ballot access restrictions. Also, the New York Times carried a letter to the editor from former Congressman John B. Anderson, criticizing the new Connecticut public funding law.

Iowa Voter Registration Lawsuit

December 8th, 2005

The Iowa Secretary of State has finally responded to the lawsuit filed in mid-September by the Libertarian and Green Parties, over whether voters should be able to register into parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties. However, it’s still too early to tell if the state will fight the lawsuit or talk about a settlement. The state’s only response so far is to answer the allegations in the complaint. They acknowledge there are no factual disputes.

COFOE and Judge Alito

December 7th, 2005

COFOE (the Coalition for Free & Open Elections) has just mailed a letter to each of the 18 senators on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The letter asks each senator to consider questioning Judge Alito about his stand on equal treatment for minor party and independent candidates and voters. The letter points out Judge Alito’s apparent belief that government should discourage minor party and independent candidate activity. It counterpoises what he said in 1999, with what Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said that was supportive, in May 2005 (in her concurrence in Clingman v Beaver). Alito’s hearing is in January 2006.

The U.S. Senators on the Judiciary Committee are Arlen Specter, Orrin Hatch, Charles Grassley, Jon Kyl, Mike DeWine, Jeff Sessions, Lindsey Graham, John Cornyn, Tom Coburn, Sam Brownback, Patrick J. Leahy, Edward M. Kennedy, Joseph R. Biden, Herbert Kohl, Dianne Feinstein, Russell D. Feingold, Charles Schumer, and Richard J. Durbin. If you live in a state represented by one of these Senators, please consider writing a letter to that Senator, asking him or her to ask Judge Alito about his ideas on the subject of fairness for minor parties and independent candidates.

Anyone who is not already a subscriber to the paper edition of Ballot Access News, who send a copy of such a letter, may receive a free 3-month subscription. Send the copy of your letter to Richard Winger, Bx 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147.

Calif. Congressional Election

December 6th, 2005

Jim Gilchrist, American Independent (Constitution Party) nominee received 25.1% of the vote. The Republican, State Senator John Campbell, won with 44.7%; the Democrat is second with 28.0%. The Green polled 1.3% and the Libertarian polled .9%.

Gilchrist’s showing is the highest percentage received by a minor party for U.S. House (in a race with both major parties also in the race) since 1994, when A Connecticut Party polled 26.3% in the First District of Connecticut.

Oral Argument in Nader Michigan Case

December 6th, 2005

On November 1, the 6th circuit heard arguments in Nader v Land, over whether the Michigan Secretary of State should have put Ralph Nader on the ballot as the Reform Party nominee last year. Nader’s attorney, law professor Bruce Afran, based his argument on the US Supreme Court precedents from the 1970’s and 1980’s that protected major party presidential conventions from state election laws. Of course, those precedents only protected the national conventions from being told which delegates to seat. Afran hopes to persuade the 6th circuit that the logic of those cases means that when a national convention makes an undisputed presidential nomination, all states where that party is on the ballot must respect that decision.

In the case of the Michigan Reform Party, one faction of the state party wanted to nominate Nader, but the other faction wanted no presidential nominee. The Michigan Secretary of State refused to decide which set of state party officers were legitimate, and left all of the party’s nominees off the ballot.

Michigan argued that the case is moot, and that in any event Nader lacks standing to complain about the Reform Party nomination, since he got on the ballot as an independent last year anyway.

Oklahoma Libertarian Ballot Access Case Delayed Again

December 6th, 2005

The Libertarian Party’s ballot access lawsuit in Oklahoma was to have had a pretrial conference on November 30, 2005, but at the request of the state, it has been delayed again, until March 22, 2006. It is conceivable that the State Board of Elections will be asking the legislature to ease the law early next year, thus making the lawsuit moot. However, this is just speculation.

Oklahoma was the only state in the union in 2004 in which it was impossible for voters to vote for anyone for president except Bush and Kerry. One must go all the way back to 1972 to find a similar instance when it was impossible for anyone to vote for president, except to vote for the Democratic or Republican nominee.

Kentucky Now Tallying Some Minor Party Registrants

December 6th, 2005

Effective November 15, 2005, Kentucky started tallying people who register as members of certain minor parties. Kentucky has always let people register in any group, since the voter registration form asking “party membership” has a blank line. But in the past, people who registered anything other than Republican or Democratic were coded as “other”. Now, a separate tally will be kept for “Independent status”, “Libertarian”, “Green”, “Constitution”, “Reform”, and “Socialist Workers”.

The new system only applies to voter registration forms filled out on or after November 15, 2005. So anyone who is already registered as a member of a minor party, and who wishes to be coded correctly, must re-register. It is likely that the number of registrants in each of these minor parties will be extremely small for some time to come.

Mass. Fusion Initiative Qualifies

December 6th, 2005

The Massachusetts initiative to legalize fusion, and also to make it easier for a party to remain on the ballot, has enough valid signatures. Also, a bill to legalize fusion (House Bill 90) will be heard in a legislative committee on January 17, 2006.

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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.