Illinois Greens on Statewide Ballot

August 28th, 2006

According to the campaign for the Illinois Democratic gubernatorial nominee, the Illinois Democratic Party no longer objects to the Green Party’s statewide Illinois petition. Earlier in the year, various Democratic Party officials had challenged the petition. This led to a check of that petition, which showed the party had more than 27,000 valid names (25,000 are required). The possibility still existed that the challengers would try to overturn the conclusion that the petition had enough names. However, the Greens now seem safely on the ballot. The decision won’t be official until the State Board of Elections meets on August 31.

This is only the 2nd time in history that the Green Party has appeared on the statewide ballot in Illinois (the other time was 2000). It is also the first time that any statewide minor party petition in Illinois has withstood the challenge procedure since 2002, when the Libertarian petition survived a challenge.



Poll Shows 2% Support for Connecticut Republican Nominee for US Senate

August 28th, 2006

On August 28, a Wall Street Journal/Zogby Poll for the Connecticut US Senate race showed the Republican nominee at only 2%. The same poll showed independent candidate Joseph Lieberman 49%, Democrat Lamont 39%, other or don’t know 10%. Other candidates on the ballot are nominees of the Green and Constitution Parties.

NH Supreme Court Clarifies Ruling on Ballot Order

August 27th, 2006

On August 17, the New Hampshire Supreme Court had ruled that the state’s laws governing order of parties and candidates on the ballot are unconstitutional. On August 25, the Court ruled that the ruling should not take effect until after this year’s September primary.

Calif. State Court of Appeals Won’t Hear Write-in Case

August 25th, 2006

On August 23, the California Court of Appeals denied injunctive relief in Sonoma Republican Party v McPherson, the lawsuit that tried to get relief for write-in candidates in partisan primaries. No hearing was held; the request was simply denied, a day after it had been filed. Thanks to Dave Kadlecek for this news.

Arkansas Secretary of State Will Not Appeal Green Party Decision

August 25th, 2006

On August 25, the Arkansas Secretary of State said he will not appeal the August 23 federal court decision, striking down the 3% petition for new parties.

New Haven Democratic Party Refuses to Expel Senator Lieberman

August 25th, 2006

Connecticut election law permits a political party to expel a registered member of that party, for “disloyalty.” The decision is in the hands of the party’s Registrar of Voters, for the town in which the individual lives. On August 25, New Haven’s Democratic Registrar of Voters refused to expel U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman. Lieberman lives in New Haven. There is no legal recourse for anyone who is unhappy with the Registrar’s decision. Some Democrats in New Haven had asked the Registrar to expel the Senator, but she has now rejected that request.

Pennsylvania Parties Will Ask for Rehearing

August 25th, 2006

The three qualified minor parties of Pennsylvania will ask the 3rd circuit for a rehearing in the ballot access case that lost on August 23 (Rogers v Cortes). The request will point out several significant factual errors in the decision. The decision erroneously said that non-qualified parties are not permitted to list several nominees (for different offices) on a single petition, whereas the qualified minor parties may do so. This is untrue; both the qualified and unqualified minor parties are permitted to list multiple candidates on a single sheet.

Although this may sound like an insignificant point, the 3rd circuit depended on that point for the decision’s rationale. The key question in the lawsuit is, if the qualified parties met the vote test in the last election, what reward do they get for meeting it? They don’t get ballot access. The Court was trying to explain that the system is somehow rational, so they came up with the idea that the parties get rewarded by being permitted to list multiple candidates on a petition. But, that can’t be right, since even the unqualified parties enjoy the same perk.

Another factual error in the decision was that in the past, the signature requirement has been “between 30,000 and 50,000 in the past”. Actually, it has been below 26,000 in all years 1994 through 2004. In 2002 it was 21,028; and in 2000 it was 21,739. This is not such an important error, but it shows how sloppy the 3rd circuit’s decision is.

Maine Democrat Endorses Green Gubernatorial Nominee

August 25th, 2006

On August 11, Christopher Miller endorsed Pat LaMarche for Governor of Maine. Miller challenged incumbent Maine Governor John Baldacci, a Democrat, in the June 2006 Democratic primary, and polled 25% of the vote. He campaigned on a platform of ending dependence on oil. He is still a registered Democrat.

Pat LaMarche is the Green nominee for Governor. Due to Maine’s “clean elections” public funding law, she is the best-funded Green Party nominee anywhere in the U.S. this year. She must poll 5% of the vote this year, or the Green Party will lose its qualified status.

Oregon Attorney General Supports Constitution Party

August 24th, 2006

On August 24, the Oregon Attorney General ruled that Constitution Party gubernatorial candidate Mary Starrett should remain on the ballot. A Republican had challenged her ballot status, saying that party officials had failed to run an advance legal notice in a newspaper, telling the date, time and location of the state convention. But the Attorney General said, even if it’s true that the notice was required, it doesn’t follow logically that the penalty for failing to run the ad is removal from the ballot.

The Republican who complained says he will now sue the state to remove Starrett.

Friend of Ballot Access Reform is Returning to Oklahoma Legislature

August 24th, 2006

At the recent Oklahoma primary, former Oklahoma State Representative Charles Key won the Republican nomination in the 90th House district. When Key was in the legislature in the past, he sponsored bills to improve the ballot access laws. Since he is certain to return to the legislature (he has no opponent in the November 2006 election), perhaps he will be helpful again.

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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.
    [Added:000823]

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