Pennsylvania Presidential Primary

January 31st, 2007

On January 30, HB 63 was introduced in the Pennsylvania House. It would move the primary in 2008 from April to March 4. The bill has 34 co-sponsors.



Oregon Presidential Primary Bill

January 31st, 2007

Oregon HB 2084 would let the Secretary of State set a presidential primary date. The bill was requested by Bill Bradbury, current Secretary of State. Presumably if the bill passed, he would use his new authority to move the presidential primary to a month earlier than May (current law puts the Oregon presidential primary in May).

IRV Bill Introduced in Arkansas

January 31st, 2007

Arkansas Representative Michael Lamoureux (R-Russellville) has introduced HB 1351, requiring cities to use Instant-Runoff Voting in their elections for city offices.

10 Washington Democratic State Senators Introduce Bill to Ban Paying Signature Gatherers per Name

January 31st, 2007

Ten Washington State Senators, all Democrats, recently introduced SB 5356, which would make it illegal for petition circulators to be paid on a per-signature basis. The bill applies to initiatives and other types of petitions as well. The sponsors are Adam Kline, Darlene Fairley, Karen Fraser, Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Craig Pridemore, Debbie Regala, Erick Poulsen, Karen Keiser, Rodney Tom, and Rosemary McAuliffe.

Maryland State Bd. of Elections Still Fighting to Avoid Paying Green Party Attorneys Fees for 2003 Victory

January 31st, 2007

In 2003, the Maryland Green Party won a spectacular ballot access lawsuit in Maryland’s highest state court. That court ruled that it is unconstitutional for a state to require double petitioning. That is, it is unconstitutional to require a minor party to submit one petition to qualify itself, and then separate petitions for each of its nominees (“nominees” means people chosen at the party’s nominating conventions; it doesn’t mean people seeking the party’s nomination).

As a result of that decision, Maryland ballot access for minor parties is now reasonable and fair, a great contrast to Maryland law between 1967 and 2003, when it was extraordinarily repressive.

The Maryland State Board of Elections seems to have a vendetta against the attorneys who won that 2003 case for the Maryland Green Party. The Board has refused to pay attorneys’ fees. The latest attempt by the Board to avoid payment was in July 2006, when it persuaded a lower court judge to issue a subpoena, letting the Board see all the e-mail between one of the attorneys and the Green Party. Because that attorney works for a college as a librarian, the subpoena also asks to see his employment application and his payroll records. The attorney used his computer at work for e-mail with the Green Party (something that was permitted by the employer, as long as it wasn’t extensive), but the State Board of Elections argues that therefore the attorney-client privilege was waived. The Board of Elections also apparently hopes to substantially cut the hourly rate for the attorney, by trying to demonstrate that his relatively modest salary as a librarian demonstrates that he should not be paid as though he were an ordinary attorney.

On January 26, the ACLU of Maryland filed a brief in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals on behalf of the Green Party and its attorneys, arguing that the subpoena should be quashed and that the Board quickly settle the amount of attorneys fees. The case is Maryland Green Party v Maryland Bd. of Elections, no. 01321, Sept. 2006 Term.

Cities in Alameda County, California, Will Probably Be Able to Use IRV in 2008

January 31st, 2007

Voters in three California cities, Berkeley, Oakland, and San Leandro, approved use if Instant-Runoff Voting in certain city elections, some time ago. However, IRV has not yet been used in those cities because the vote-counting systems haven’t been ready for it. All three cities are in Alameda County, which uses electronic vote-counting equipment made by Sequoia Voting Systems.

According to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters, Sequoia expects to have the machines ready in time to use IRV in city elections in the spring of 2008.

Montana Bill to Protect Candidates During a Recount

January 30th, 2007

Montana State Senator John Cobb has introduced SB 117, to protect candidates who are told they won a close election, and who are then sued by the loser. Under existing law, when that happens, and the recount reverses the outcome, the original “winner” must pay all the court costs associated with the recount.

The bill, if passed, would be retroactive to cover the 2004 election, so would spare Rick Jore the need to repay $18,000. Jore is the Constitution Party’s only state legislator in the nation. He appeared to have won his 2004 election as a Constitution Party nominee, but after the 2004 election, the Montana Supreme Court had ruled that six of his votes were too unclear to count, and therefore he just barely lost the 2004 election. Sympathy for his plight probably helped him win over that same opponent in November 2006.

Senator Cobb says Jore did not ask him to introduce SB 117. The bill was Cobb’s idea.

New York Independence Party Makes New Attempt to Drive Out Allies of Fulani

January 30th, 2007

On January 28, the State Commmittee of the New York Independence Party passed a new bylaw. It says the state leadership can displace the leadership in any county, even if the county leadership was elected by committeemembers who had won the party’s primary. It is not clear that this new bylaw can be enforced against state election law; the matter will be in court soon. The motivation of the New York Independence Party state leadership was, as before, to eliminate allies of Lenora Fulani. Fulani allies won control of the party in most boroughs of New York state by electing a majority of the county committee in the party’s most recent primary.

West Virginia Bill to Give Democrats Top Spot on Ballot

January 30th, 2007

Current West Virginia law says party columns on the November ballot should be in order of how many votes each party polled for president in the last election. Although Democrats won the most votes for president in West Virginia in all elections 1976-1996 (except 1984), Republicans won the most votes for president in West Virginia starting in 2000. Two Democratic Delegates have just introduced a bill to change the law. HB 2172 would say that parties should be on the ballot in order of how many registered voters they have. There are almost twice as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans in West Virginia. The bill is authored by James Morgan (D-Huntington) and Michael Caputo (D-Fairmont).

Speaker of Illinois House Introduces February Primary Bill

January 30th, 2007

On January 26, Michael J. Madison, speaker of the Illinois House for 24 years, introduced HB 426. It moves the primary in presidential election years from the 3rd Tuesday in March to the 1st Tuesday in February. The bill has four other co-sponsors, all Democrats. Democrats control both houses of the Illinois legislature and the Governorship, so this bill will probably pass.

If the bill passed, Illinois would hold its primary for all office, not just president, in February (in presidential years). This would be the first time that any state had ever held a primary for Congress so far removed in time from the November election. Madigan says it would be too complicated to hold a presidential primary in February and a primary for all other office later in the year. Thanks to The Green Papers 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!

Extra Features:

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.