New Hampshire Legislative Hearing Goes Well

February 3rd, 2006

The January 31 hearing in the New Hampshire House Election Law Committee went very well. Everyone who testified was in favor of the bill, or else was neutral (the Secretary of State was neutral). The bill would lower the vote test from 4% for Governor or US Senator, to 2% for Governor or US Senator. It would also lower the statewide independent candidate petition (with party label) from 3,000 signatures, to 2,000 signatures. The committee will decide whether to recommend the bill in a week or so.



Calif. Secretary of State May Reconsider

February 2nd, 2006

The chief counsel to the Elections Division of the California Secretary of State has indicated that the office still hasn’t made a final decision about the Peace & Freedom Party.

Public Funding of Congressional Campaigns

February 2nd, 2006

Congressman David Obey’s public funding of congressional campaigns bill is HR 4694. Nominees of parties that had averaged 25% of the vote for US House in that district (over the last two elections) would get full public funding. Also, independent candidates who had averaged 25% would also get full public funding. All others would be required to submit petitions signed by 10% of the last vote cast, for partial funding; and 20% petitions for full funding. Candidates not qualifying for partial funding would be barred from spending any privately raised money. The co-sponsors are these 7 Democrats: Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, Barney Frank and James McGovern of Massachusetts, Henry Waxman and Bob Filner of California, Steve Israel of New York, and Tim Ryan of Ohio.

Calif. Secretary of State Won’t Reverse Peace & Freedom ruling

February 1st, 2006

Bruce McPherson, California Secretary of State, has finally determined to remove the Peace & Freedom Party (see post below). However, he won’t release his reasoning. Presumably, he argues that the precedents that show his interpretation is wrong (those from 1998, 1970, 1950 and 1934) don’t apply, because the law changed in 2000. However, the law change in 2000 does not support the Secretary’s position. The law change was made by SB 1823, and the Legislative Counsel’s Digest says “This bill would require political parties to have their qualifications reviewed by the Secretary of State following each gubernatorial election”. McPherson is violating this law by applying the review before a gubernatorial election, not following a gubernatorial election.

Furthermore, another precedent has been discovered that contradicts the McPherson ruling, and this precedent is under the existing law. In 1998 the Reform Party failed to get 2% of the vote for any statewide race, so it went off the ballot. But at the February 1999 registration tally, it increased its registration so as to meet the requirement for new parties (just as Peace & Freedom did the same, when it re-qualified in the February 2003 tally). Reform registration declined after February 1999, below the registration standard for new parties, but it was permitted to be on the ballot in both 2000 and 2002.

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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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  • 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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