Idaho Bill for Registration by Party Loses

March 30th, 2007

On March 30, the Idaho Senate defeated S1244, which would have launched a system in which voters register into political parties. Information about how many Senators voted for or against isn’t available yet.



Texas Ballot Access Bill Isn’t Dead After All

March 30th, 2007

An earlier posting said that the chair of the Texas House Elections Committee had refused to schedule a hearing on HB 2280, the bill to eliminate the “primary screen-out”. Happily, he has changed his mind, and set a hearing for Wednesday, April 4. “Primary screen-out” means making it illegal for a primary voter to sign a petition for an independent candidate or a new party.

Colorado Ballot Access Bill Passes 2nd Reading in Senate

March 30th, 2007

On March 30, Colorado SB 83 passed the Senate on 2nd reading. It is expected to pass on third reading on April 2. It permits any adult citizen to circulate any type of petition (except that primary petitions would still need to be circulated by party members). Current law does not permit anyone to circulate a petition unless the circulator lives in the district.

The bill also lets qualified minor parties nominate anyone they wish (if the candidate meets the Constitutional qualifications for the office, of course). Current law doesn’t permit qualified minor parties to nominate someone who has been a member of another party during the past year. This is discriminatory, since qualified major parties are not subject to the restriction.

The bill has been amended to include other election law matters. For example, it permits parolees to register to vote.

National Popular Vote Plan Likely to Pass Maryland Legislature on April 2

March 30th, 2007

The Maryland House is expected to pass SB634/HB148 on Monday, April 2. These are identical bills to implement the “National Popular Vote Plan”. On March 30, the House defeated all the amendments that had been introduced to sidetrack the plan, such as bills to simply study the plan.

Huge Gain for Illinois Ballot Access

March 30th, 2007

On March 30, the Illinois State Senate passed SB733, which lowers petition requirements for independent candidates, and for the nominees of unqualified parties. Existing law requires statewide candidates to get 25,000, but the bill drops this to 5,000. Existing law requires district and county candidates to submit petitions of 5% of the last vote cast, but the bill drops this to approximately one-half of 1% (the formula is complicated and not easy to describe precisely). The bill passed unanimously. Now it goes to the State House. Thanks to Dan Johnson-Weinberger for this news.

If the bill becomes law, then every state except Alabama and Georgia will have some procedure for a new party to get its US House nominees on the November ballot for US House, that is equal to, or easier than, a petition of 2% of the last vote cast (although in some cases, as in Oklahoma, they couldn’t have the party label printed on the ballot).

Hearing Held on Rhode Island Bill to Ease Definition of “Party”

March 30th, 2007

On March 28, the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on HB 5466. It would ease the definition of “Political Party”. Currently, a party is a group that either submitted a petition to qualify itself, or a group that polled 5% for President or Governor at either of the last two elections. The bill would expand the list of offices for which the vote test counts, to all the state statewide offices (Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Attorney General).

If the bill were to pass and were to be applied retrospectively, the Cool Moose Party would become a fully qualified party, since it polled over 5% for Lieutenant Governor in 2006.

Rhode Island Bills to Abolish Straight-Ticket Device

March 30th, 2007

On March 28, the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a bill to abolish the straight-ticket device. It is HB5508; an identical bill in the Senate is SB744. Many witnesses criticized the device and no one defended it. The committee will study the issue and vote next month.

Oregon Committee Hears Fusion Bill

March 29th, 2007

On March 28, the Oregon House Rules, Redistricting and Public Affairs Committee took testimony on HB 3040. There were many people who wanted to testify in favor; there wasn’t time for most of them to speak. The Committee heard from representatives of the Working Families Party and the Libertarian Party. The committee won’t vote for at least a week or so, but most members seemed inclined to vote for the bill.

COFOE Board Will Assist Proposed New Lawsuit Against North Carolina Independent Candidate Law

March 29th, 2007

North Carolina’s law for independent candidates for U.S. House is so difficult, it has never been used, in the entire history of government-printed ballots in that state. On March 29, the COFOE (Coalition for Free & Open Elections) Board voted to assist a proposed lawsuit to overturn the North Carolina independent candidate law, as applied to U.S. House candidates. The law requires a petition signed by 4% of the number of registered voters in the district, plus a large filing fee.

A lawsuit is also currently pending against the North Carolina ballot access laws for new parties. It was filed in 2005 by the Libertarian Party and still doesn’t have a decision.

Mixed Arkansas Ballot Access Bill Pass Legislature

March 29th, 2007

On March 29, the Arkansas Senate passed both ballot access bills that had previously been passed by the House.

HB2367 is wholly beneficial. It establishes statutory procedures for independent presidential candidates. This is the first time that Arkansas has ever had such procedures in its statutes. Back in 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court had said the U.S. Constitution requires states to provide ballot access procedures for independent candidates, as well as for new and minor parties. The Supreme Court said the two approaches to politics are entirely different, and states can’t force independents to create a new party to get on the ballot. Despite this clear decision from 33 years ago, Arkansas did not create such a procedure until this year.

The other ballot access bill, HB2353, lowers the number of signatures for a new party from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote (approximately 24,000 signatures) to a flat 10,000 signatures. But it reduces the number of days to get those signatures from 150 days to 60 days. It is probable that the Green Party will sue to overturn the 60-day limitation.

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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.