David Broder Column on Unity08

February 26th, 2007

Washington Post columnist David Broder has a new column on Unity08 in the February 26 issue. It can be read here. As of February 15, Unity08 had 35,000 voters already signed up to participate in its on-line “presidential primary”. Thanks to Jack Dean.



US Supreme Court Accepts “Top-Two” Washington Case

February 26th, 2007

On February 26, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted Washington State’s appeal of the “top-two” primary case. The voters of Washington state had passed that type of primary in November 2004. But in 2005 the U.S. District Court had ruled it unconstituitonal, and the 9th circuit agreed last August. The case is Washington v Republican Party, 06-730.

Louisiana Special Legislative Elections

February 25th, 2007

Louisiana held special elections in three state house seats on Saturday, February 24.

In the 40th district in the central part of the state (St. Landry Parish), five Democrats and one independent, Bradford Jackson, ran. Jackson came in third with 19.6%. The top two vote-getting Democrats will now face off in a run-off. At the last regularly-scheduled election for this district (all Louisiana legislative districts were last up on October 4, 2003), only Democrats had run.

In the 1st district in the northwest part of the state, 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats ran. One of the Republicans, Jim Morris, was elected outright with 69.4%. At the October 2003 election, only Democrats had run for this seat.

In the 4th district, also in the northwest, only Democrats ran in the special election, just as only Democrats had run in this district in 2003.

Hawaii Green Party Must Re-Qualify

February 24th, 2007

Hawaii has a very unusual law for determining how a party remains on the ballot. If the party has been on for 3 elections in a row, then it is automatically qualified for the next 5 elections. But after the “free” 5 elections are up (unless it had polled 10% for a statewide office or either US House seat, or 4% for half the races in either house of the legislature, or 2% for half of the legislative races in both houses), then it goes off the ballot.

The Green Party’s 5 “free” elections are up, so the party must submit 663 signatures to re-qualify for 2008. If the party doesn’t meet the vote test in 2008 or 2010, it will probably need similar petitions in 2010 and 2012. Then it will again qualify automatically for 2014 through 2022.

California Bill Would Allow All Cities and Counties to Use Instant-Runoff Voting

February 23rd, 2007

On February 23, California Assemblymen Gene Mullin and Mark Leno introduced AB 1294. It would let any city or county choose to use Instant-Runoff voting for its own elections. Currently, only chartered cities and chartered counties may do so without state approval.

Pennsylvania Federal Ballot Access Rehearing is Still Pending, 6 Months After the Initial Decision

February 23rd, 2007

Back on August 23, 2006, the 3rd circuit ruled adversely in the Pennsylvania ballot access lawsuit Rogers v Corbett. The issue was whether the state could force qualified parties to submit petitions for their nominees, even though those parties had fulfilled the 2% vote test at the previous election and therefore met the Pennsylvania definition of “political party”. Parties affected were the Green, Libertarian and Constitution Parties, all of which had met that statewide vote test in November 2004, and yet all of whom were being kept off the November 2006 ballot unless they submitted 67,070 signatures.

The parties asked for a rehearing, and that rehearing request is still pending, as of February 23. Generally, rehearing requests are rejected within a month or two after the initial decision, so there is some reason for optimism that the case will win a rehearing from the full 3rd circuit. Only full-time judges can vote on whether to grant a rehearing. The original decision was before one fulltime judge and two part-time judges, but those part-time judges have no vote on whether to grant the rehearing. The 3rd circuit has 10 full-time judges.

Iowa Likely to Permit Same-Day Registration

February 22nd, 2007

Iowa’s legislature will probably pass HF 399, which permits people to register at the polls on election day. Iowa’s neighbors Minnesota and Wisconsin have had same-day voter registration for many years, and the perception is that it works well there. Iowa Democrats are supportive of the idea, and hold a majority in both houses of the legislature, and the governorship.

Kansas Senate Passes Bill for February Presidential Primary

February 22nd, 2007

On February 22, the Kansas Senate unanimously passed SB 320, which gives the Secretary of State authority to set the presidential primary date whenever he wishes. The expectation is that the Secretary of State would use this authority (assuming the bill is signed into law) to set a February date in 2008.

North Carolina Bill for February Presidential Primary

February 22nd, 2007

On February 13, nine North Carolina Senators introduced SB 168, to move the presidential primary from May to February. The primary for other office would remain in May.

Florida February Presidential Primary Bill Moves Ahead

February 22nd, 2007

Florida HB 537, the bill to move the presidential primary from March to February, passed the House Economic Expansion Committee on February 22. The vote was 12-0. It had already passed the Elections Committee, and now goes to the House floor.

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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.