Anti-Fusion Bill Fails in Delaware

June 30th, 2006

Delaware House Bill 10, which would have outlawed fusion, failed to pass, and the legislature has now gone home for the year.



Indiana US Senate race this year between a Republican and a Libertarian

June 30th, 2006

No Democrat will be on the November ballot this year for US Senate in Indiana. The only two candidates listed will be a Republican and a Libertarian. This is the eleventh time in the last 16 years in which one of the major parties had not nominated in a US Senate race. The other instances have been: no Republican in Massachusetts 2002, Arkansas 1990 and Georgia 1990; no Democrat in Idaho 2004, Kansas 2002, Mississippi 2002, Virginia 2002, Mississippi 1990, and Virginia 1990.

Alabama Legislature Accidentally Moved Petition Deadline from June to February

June 30th, 2006

In April 2006, the Alabama legislature passed HB 51, which was intended to move the presidential primary from June to February. However, the bill was drafted so that it actually moves the primary for all office, not just president, to February. Since the petition deadline for minor parties and independents candidates (other than president) is tied to the date of the primary, that had the indirect result of moving the petition deadlines to February. Already various minor parties and independent candidates have a case in the 11th circuit against the June deadline. In 1991 the 11th circuit had struck down Alabama’s then deadline of April, so clearly the new law is unconstitutional. The legislature has gone home for the year and can’t fix the problem until next year.

Ohio Libertarian, Green Gubernatorial Candidates On the Ballot

June 30th, 2006

The Ohio Secretary of State’s office has determined that both the Green and Libertarian Party gubernatorial candidates have enough valid signatures on their petitions. Each needed 5,000 valid signatures and turned in double that amount. Each will have the label “Other-party candidate” on the November ballot, instead of the label of their party. However, a bill will be introduced in Ohio soon to allow such candidates to have their party label printed on the ballot in future elections.

Bill Slightly Improving Pennsylvania Ballot Access Passes Committee

June 29th, 2006

Pennsylvania HB 2830, which sets a cap on the number of signatures required for statewide minor party and independent candidates (45,000) passed the State House Government Committee on June 29. The bill has other unrelated provisions, and would take effect this year.

Illinois Independent Congressional Candidate Kept Off Ballot by Trickery, Sues Democrats

June 29th, 2006

On June 29, Bill Scheuer, the Moderate Party candidate for U.S. House, Illinois 8th district, sued the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and various individuals, for fraud. Scheuer had laboriously collected 13,000 signatures to get on the November ballot. Since the legal requirement was almost 14,000, he had also contracted with an individual who promised to collect another 10,000 signatures for payment. The individual appears to have disguised his true identity, and also disguised the fact that he is a government employee associated with the Democratic Party. The individual gave Scheurer assurances that he was getting the signatures, but in fact he was not doing so. The case is Moderate Party v Dem. Congressional Campaign Committee, and has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge James B. Moran, a Carter appointee.

Democrats Move Toward Approving Earlier Presidential Primaries, Caucuses

June 29th, 2006

On June 22 the national Democratic Party’s Rules Committee voted to authorize one or two presidential primaries or caucuses before the New Hampshire presidential primary. The Committee will decide on July 22 or July 23 which state or states will be allowed to go earlier. The July meeting will also set dates for these states.

Working Families Party Now on Oregon Ballot

June 28th, 2006

On June 27, the Oregon Secretary of State announced that the Working Families Party is now ballot-qualified. The party needed 18,381 valid signatures, and achieved this goal.

Reform Party Re-Files as “Political Body” in California

June 28th, 2006

The Reform Party went off the ballot in California in November 2002. When a party is off the ballot in California, but wishes to re-qualify, it must notify the Secretary of State to keep track of how many registrations it has. Once it gets a number of registrations equal to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, it is back on the ballot. The Reform Party has just re-filed its request that the state keep track of its registrations. The next tally won’t be until September 2006. The Reform Party probably has about 35,000 registrants now, and it will probably need about 90,000 to get back on. The exact number won’t be known until the November 2006 election is held; the requirement is 1% of the number of people who vote in that election. The party would have until January 2008 to meet the requirement.

Anti-Electoral College Bill Passes State Senate Committee

June 28th, 2006

On June 28, the California State Senate Elections Committee passed AB 2948 by a vote of 3-1. It had already passed the Assembly. It seems likely that the California legislature will be the first legislature to pass the “National Popular Vote Plan”, which calls for a compact of states, each pledging to choose presidential electors pledged to vote for the presidential candidate who got the most votes in the nation. The compact would not go into effect until states containing a majority of electoral votes had joined.

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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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  • 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.
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    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.
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    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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