2008 VOTES FOR PRESIDENT
Top 4 Minor Candidates
(updated November 18, 2008: 99% Precincts Reporting Nationwide)
Nader
Independent
Barr
Libertarian Party
Baldwin
Constitution Party
McKinney
Green Party
698,798
511,324
181,818
152,811
 
     

Anti-Straight-Ticket Bill Passes New Hampshire Legislature

March 27th, 2007

On March 27, the New Hampshire House passed SB 36, the bill to eliminate the straight-ticket device.



Mixed Arkansas Ballot Access Bill Passes Senate Committee

March 27th, 2007

On March 27, HB2353 passed the Arkansas Senate State Agencies and Governmental Affairs Committee. It reduces the number of signatures for a new party to 10,000 signatures, but shrinks the number of days to collect the signatures from 150 days to 60 days. The Green Party has been asking legislators to vote against it, since even if the bill doesn’t pass, the requirement will be 10,000 (due to the winning lawsuit last year).

Influential Maine Legislator Will Introduce Fusion Bill

March 27th, 2007

In a few days, Maine House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree will introduce a bill to legalize fusion (”fusion” means that two parties are permitted to jointly nominate the same candidate). Pingree comes from a prominent family; her mother, Chellie Pingree, was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Maine in 2002, and was thereafter head of Common Cause.

Maryland February Presidential Primary Bill Passes House

March 26th, 2007

On March 26, the Maryland House passed HB 1434 unanimously. It moves the state’s primary in presidential election years from March to February 12. Thanks to the commenter who helped make this post more accurate.

New York Elects Three New Legislators on March 27

March 26th, 2007

New York state is holding three special legislative elections on March 27, in the 16th, 61st and 62nd districts. The 16th district is on Long Island and the other two are in New York city. They are to replace one Assemblymember who died, and two Assemblymembers who resigned last month to take other elected positions.

New Idaho Bill to Close Primaries

March 26th, 2007

On March 26, the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee introduced S1244, the newest attempt to close Idaho’s primaries. Existing law lets voters choose a party’s primary ballot in the privacy of the voting booth on primary election day. S1244 would provide for partisan registration. If enacted, registered members of a party could only vote in that party’s primary, but independent voters could choose any party’s primary ballot. Parties would not have the discretion to bar independents from voting in their primary.

Although the Secretary of State supports this bill, the County Recorders (who administer elections) do not. No one yet knows if the bill will pass this year.

Since most voters are not likely to go to the bother of re-registering (assuming they are already registered to vote), the bill provides that they can choose their party affiliation at the polls, in the May 2008 primary.

Maine Green Registration Rises Again

March 26th, 2007

Maine’s Secretary of State has finally released voter registration data for November 2006. The results are: Democratic 31.16%; Republican 28.12%; Green 2.95%; independent and other parties, 37.77%.

Back in November 2004, the Maine data was: Democratic 31.17%; Republican 28.07%; Green 2.36%; independent and other parties 38.40%. Thus, between November 2004 and November 2006, major party and independent registration was virtually unchanged, but the Green share increased 25%.

The raw data for November 2006 is: Democratic 308,957; Republican 278,887; Green 29,273; independent and other 374,502.

Green registration is now almost at 3%. No other state Green Party has ever achieved that large a share of the voter registration.

New Hampshire House to Vote on Anti-Straight-Ticket Bill on Tuesday, March 27

March 26th, 2007

The New Hampshire House is scheduled to vote on SB 36 on Tuesday, March 27. The bill abolishes the straight-ticket device and gives the state an office-group ballot. If the bill passes (and it is expected to), this will likely make it easier for HB 48 to pass. HB 48 lowers the vote test for a party to remain on the ballot from 4% to 2%. Secretary of State Bill Gardner, who is very influential, has already testified that if SB 36 passes, he would have no objection to HB 48.

Unity08 Now has 42,000 Delegates; Plans to Choose Candidate in June 2008

March 26th, 2007

Doug Bailey, chief spokesperson for Unity08, is interviewed in the March 26 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle. Unity08 now has 42,000 Delegates. The delegates will choose a presidential and vice-presidential candidate in June 2008. See here for the interview.

Republican Late Convention Problem Likely to be Solved by Illinois Legislature

March 25th, 2007

The Republican Party’s national convention in 2008 will nominate candidates for president and vice-president so late (September 3 or September 4) that the party will be unable to comply with state election laws in four states. Alabama, California, Illinois and Montana require parties to certify their national ticket earlier than that. However, the Illinois bill to move the primary from March to February contains a provision easing the deadline. Since the bill to move the Illinois primary is expected to pass, that will solve the Republican Party’s problem in that state. The Illinois bill is HB 426, and it will probably pass the House in the coming week.

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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]

The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.