New Hampshire Senate Committee Passes Bill to Give State More Flexibility to Change Presidential Primary Date

May 25th, 2007

On May 24, the New Hampshire Senate Election Laws & Internal Affairs Committee passed HB 272. It gives the Secretary of State even more flexibility to set the date of the presidential primary. It lets him choose any day of the week, not just a Tuesday. It removes from the law the filing deadline for presidential candidates and delegates, so that the Secretary of State is free to set those deadlines at the last minute.



US House Likely to Vote on Paper Trails Next Week

May 25th, 2007

It is likely that the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on HR 811 during the last three days of May. This is Congressman Rush Holt’s bill to ban vote-counting machines that produce no paper trail. Congressman Vern Ehlers (R-Mich.) recently introduced a somewhat similar bill, HR 2360, to counteract HR 811. HR 811 would take effect before the November 2008 election, but HR 2360 would put off implementation until 2010.

Also, on May 25, U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Christopher Dodd introduced S1487, which also outlaws machines with no paper trail starting in 2010. It is co-sponsored by Senators Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Patrick Leahy, Edward Kennedy, Dan Inouye, Robert Menendez, Sherrod Brown, and Bernie Sanders.

New Voting Machines Helped Write-in Candidates in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania

May 25th, 2007

Pennsylvania held primary elections on May 15, 2007, for statewide judicial office, and local partisan office. Luzerne County was using electronic vote-counting machines for the first time. Previously the county had used old-fashioned mechanical voting machines.

At the May 15 primary, 32 candidates won enough write-ins to be considered nominees of either the Democratic or Republican Parties. Luzerne County elections officials said the large number of write-ins was due to the fact that it is so much easier for voters to cast write-ins with the new machines, compared to the old machines. The new machines have an electronic keyboard which not only makes it obvious how to do a write-in, but eliminates the problems of poor penmanship.

The most important office for which voters nominated a write-in candidate was Luzerne County District Attorney. Republican write-in candidate Jackie Carroll needed 250 write-ins to be considered nominated, and received 455 write-ins.

New Hampshire Legislative Committee is Studying Ballot Access Bill

May 25th, 2007

The New Hampshire House Election Law Committee has asked one of its staffers to gather research on how many votes are required in each state, for a group to meet the definition of “political party.” The current New Hampshire definition of party is a group that polled 4% at the last election for either U.S. Senate or Governor. The median vote test for the 50 states is 2%, and this information is now in the hands of the committee. This information will probably help to pass HB 48, next year. HB 48 lowers the vote test from 4% to 2%. It is too late for the bill to make any headway in 2007.

New Hampshire is the only New England state that has not had any qualified parties (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties) during the last six years.

Socialist Workers Party Also Has New Jersey Legislative Candidates

May 25th, 2007

A posting on May 21 identified the minor parties that are on the ballot in New Jersey legislative races this year. But that posting failed to mention that the Socialist Workers Party has two candidates on the ballot for the state legislature.

Oregon Has an Independent State Senator

May 24th, 2007

Back in July 2006, Oregon State Senator Avel Louise Gordly changed her registration from “Democratic” to “Unaffiliated.” Although this is not new news, BAN had not previously noted it or known it. She was last re-elected in 2004, so she has not yet tried to seek re-election as an independent candidate. She was the first African-American female State Senator in Oregon history when she was elected the first time in 1996.

New York Legislature Passes Bill to Move 2007 Primary from Sep. 11 to Sep. 18

May 24th, 2007

On May 21, the New York Assembly passed S.5755, which moves this year’s primary from September 11 to September 18. The bill had already passed the Senate. Legislators didn’t like the symbolism of holding another primary on September 11. In 2001, the primary had been on September 11, and the attack in New York city sabotaged that day’s primary in the city.

Oral Argument Set in Connecticut Discriminatory Public Funding Lawsuit

May 24th, 2007

On June 6, a U.S. District Court in Connecticut will hear argument in Green Party of Connecticut v Garfield, 3:06cv-1030. This is the case that challenges the severely discriminatory aspects of Connecticut’s public funding law. All candidates must collect a certain number of $5 contributions, in order to receive public funding. However, candidates who are not nominees of parties that polled 20% in the last election must in addition submit petitions, to qualify.

National Popular Vote Bills Introduced In New Jersey

May 24th, 2007

On May 14, bills were introduced in both houses of the New Jersey legislature for the National Popular Vote Plan for presidential elections. They are S2695 and A4225. Ohio and Michigan are now the only populous states in which National Popular Vote bills have never been introduced.

Canton, Ohio Newspaper Praises Secretary of State for Making it Easier for Parties to Get on Ballot

May 24th, 2007

The May 24 issue of the Canton, Ohio Repository has published this editorial, praising Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner for her regulations, cutting the number of signatures in half for new and minor parties.

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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.