Politics1.com

December 5th, 2005

Thank you, Ron Gunzberger and www.politics1.com, for naming Ballot Access News “site of the day” for December 5, 2005.



Lowell Weicker will fight Connecticut’s New Law

December 4th, 2005

On December 2, former U.S. Senator and former Governor Lowell Weicker said he would assist a planned lawsuit against Connecticut’s new bill on public funding. Weicker was elected Governor in 1990 on the “A Connecticut Party” ticket.

Nebraska Green Party

December 4th, 2005

The Nebraska Green Party expects to qualify for the 2006 ballot statewide, and also hopes its 2006 candidate for Secretary of State, Doug Paterson, will poll the needed 5% to keep the party on the ballot automatically for 2008. The party is two-thirds done with its 2006 petition. No other minor party is expected to be on the Nebraska ballot in 2006. Assuming the Green Party does qualify statewide in 2006, it will be the first time the party has been on the statewide ballot for any office other than president.

Iowa Response to Voter Registration Suit

December 2nd, 2005

On September 15, 2005, the ACLU of Iowa sued the state, over the policy of forcing all voters to register Republican, Democratic or Independent. The suit was on behalf of the Green and Libertarian Parties. The state has still not responded to the complaint, but has promised to do so on December 7.

Connecticut Violates Helsinki Accords

December 2nd, 2005

On December 1, the Connecticut legislature passed Bill 2103, which provides public funding for candidates for state office. All candidates would need to raise considerable amounts of private money, in order to receive public funding. But members of parties which polled 20% for Governor in the last election would not need to do anything else to qualify, except to raise enough private donations.

Independent candidates, and nominees of parties that had not polled 10% of the vote in the last election for that same office, would need to submit petitions. For full funding, they would need to submit a number of signatures equal to 20% of the last vote cast; for partial funding, 10%.

Parties that had polled 10% for that office, but under 20%, would get one-third of the funding; if they had polled 15% at the last election, two-thirds.

The amount of money that all candidates need to have raised privately is $250,000 for gubernatorial candidates; $75,000 for other statewide candidates; $15,000 for State Senate candidates; and $5,000 for State House candidates. Since these thresholds are quite severe, it seems obvious to unbiased observers that any candidate who reaches these thresholds should qualify. There is no need to add additional qualifiers for disfavored classes of candidates.

The Helsinki Accords, which the U.S. signed, pledge all nations to “respect the right of citizens to seek political or public office without discrimination” and to “provide political parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law.”

Maine now has 4 state legislators who aren’t Dems or Reps

December 1st, 2005

Maine state representative Joanne Twomey recently changed her voter registration from “Democratic” to “independent”. The Maine House of Representatives now as one Green and three independents. Thanks to Austin Cassidy’s thirdpartywatch for this news.

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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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  • 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.
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