California Debate Bill Advances

April 27th, 2007

On April 19, the California Assembly Elections Committee passed AB 970. It requires the Secretary of State to sponsor 3 general election gubernatorial debates. All ballot-listed candidates would be invited.



California Special Congressional Election Set

April 27th, 2007

California will hold a special election on June 26 to fill the vacancy in the 37th U.S. House district, caused when Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald died earlier this month. Filing closes May 14. The district is overwhelmingly Democratic. Probably many Democrats will file, and it is likely that none of them will get a majority. If no one gets 50% in the first election, a run-off will be held on August 21, between the top vote-getters from each party.

Delaware Legislator is a Write-in Candidate in Special Election to Succeed Himself

April 27th, 2007

Delaware is holding a special election on May 5 to fill the vacant seat in the State House, 41st district. The vacancy was caused when Republican Representative John Atkins resigned. However, Atkins has since changed his mind, and wants to return to the legislature, so he is running as a write-in in that special election.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Says he Wants to Be an Independent Candidate for Re-election

April 27th, 2007

George Dale, Mississippi’s Democratic Insurance Commissioner since 1975, was denied the right to file as a Democrat last month. Mississippi elects all its state officers in the odd years before presidential elections, so the state election is in November 2007. Dale was kept off the Democratic primary ballot because he endorsed President Bush for re-election in 2004. He filed a lawsuit in state court to overturn that decision.

However, at the hearing on April 27, he said that he no longer wants to be the Democratic nominee, and that he wants to be an independent. Since this issue had not been briefed, the court took no immediate action. Dale needs 1,000 signatures to be on the ballot, which he undoubtedly could collect. Unfortunately, the deadline has already passed. It is possible he will file new papers to argue that the deadline is unconstitutional. Thanks to Steve Rankin for this news.

Florida January Primary Bill Passes Senate

April 27th, 2007

On April 27, the Florida Senate passed HB537, which would create a presidential primary that is one week later than New Hampshire’s primary. The Senate amended the bill to outlaw vote-counting machines with no paper trail. The bill had already passed the House, but must now return to the House to see if the House agrees with the amendment.

It is difficult to know for sure what will happen if this bill is signed into law, because New Hampshire won’t clearly say when its presidential primary will be. But even if New Hampshire holds its primary as late as January 22, the Florida bill would create a January 29 for Florida, ahead of almost all other primaries.

Rick Jore Asks Montana Governor to Veto SB 270

April 27th, 2007

On April 27, the last day of the Montana legislative session, Rep. Rick Jore saw Governor Brian Schweitzer for a few minutes to ask him to veto SB 270, the bill that moves the petition deadline for independent candidates (for office other than president) from June to March. Governor Schweitzer said he would look at the case law.

Minnesota Bill Passes Senate With Harmful Provision Deleted

April 27th, 2007

Minnesota SF1298 passed the Senate on April 27. Fortunately, the part of the bill making it more difficult for new parties to qualify for the ballot had been amended out of the bill on April 19.

Minnesota currently requires a group that wants to transform itself into a ballot-qualified party to submit a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast. This petition is so difficult, it has never been used, even though it has been in existence since 1913. The law set no limit on when such a petition could start to circulate, and said it was due in July of election years. SF1298, as originally introduced, set a January 1 start date on such petitions, and moved the deadline from July to May, but those parts of the bill were deleted.

Restrictive Campaign Sign Ordinance Quashed

April 27th, 2007

On April 26, the city of Easton, Pennsylvania, agreed not to enforce a city ordinance that requires a fee of $25 for individuals to post campaign signs. The Democratic Party had filed a lawsuit in federal court, and the city gave in. The case is Democratic Party v City of Easton, 2:07-cv-1591.

Democratic 8-Candidate Debate Gets High Marks

April 27th, 2007

The 8-candidate Democratic presidential debate held on April 26 has received a great deal of press coverage. The consensus seems to be that having that many candidates did not spoil the debate. The debate was 90 minutes long. Although not every candidate received an equal amount of time, every candidate was able to give a clear impression of himself or herself. The New York Times of April 27 ran a separate article on Mike Gravel’s performance. Of the eight candidates, Gravel was considered the least likely to be nominated, but the article says “If Mr. Gravel, 77, did not steal the show, he certainly stole some of the limited sound-bite pie…He served as a kind of cranky uncle in the solemn field of well-barbered, sound-bite practitioners with whom he shared the stage, joining the other long shot, Representative Dennis J. Kucinich, in berating the others as being too cautious in trying to get troops out of Iraq.”

An organization called Rock the Debates is organizing, and hopes to create a large number of ordinary people who live in states like Iowa and New Hampshire to ask the leading major party presidential candidates if they will commit to at least one general election debate that includes all the candidates who are on the ballot in enough states to theoretically win the election. Rock the Debates efforts will be encouraged by the example of the April 26 debate. Never before in U.S. history have there been more than 7 presidential candidates in the general election who were on the ballot in enough states to win, so an inclusive general election debate would be practical.

Connecticut February Presidential Primary Bill Advances

April 27th, 2007

On April 16, the Connecticut Joint Government Administration & Elections Committee passed SB 1184. It moves the presidential primary from March to February 5. It will soon get a vote on the Senate 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!

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  • 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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