Unity08 Revamps Its Own Web Page

October 31st, 2007

Unity08 has completely revamped its own web page. The address is the same: www.unity08.com. The new page reveals that Unity08 has decided to use the independent procedure, rather than the new party procedure, in California, Alabama and Idaho. In all 3 states, the independent presidential procedures are easier than the new party procedures.



California Republican Electoral College Initiative Revives

October 31st, 2007

According to this story in the Riverside, California Press-Enterprise, wealthy Congressman Darrell Issa of San Diego County has agreed to pay to get an initiative on the California June 2008 ballot. That initiative would provide that each U.S. House district elect its own elector. The initiative already collected 100,000 signatures in August, then had been abandoned for lack of funding. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for this news. A poll released on October 31 shows that the initiative would lose; see this report.

The Democratic response continues to lack any hint that the Democrats might qualify similiar initiatives in states such as Florida and Ohio. As noted earlier, 17 of the 23 states that have the initiative process are states that voted for George W. Bush in each of the last two presidential elections.

Houston Chronicle Gives Socialist Workers Party Some Publicity

October 31st, 2007

The Houston, Texas mayoral race is on November 6, 2007. It is non-partisan. There are 3 candidates on the ballot: incumbent Bill White, Socialist Workers Party member Amanda Ulman, and professional wrestling promoter Outlaw Josey Wales IV. The Houston Chronicle ran this story on October 28 about the race. The Mayor has raised over $2,000,000 for his re-election fight. The story hints that he really raised it in case he runs for a bigger office in the future.

R.I. Legislature Passes Bill to Move Presidential Primary from March to February

October 31st, 2007

The Rhode Island legislature had adjourned for the year in June. However, on October 30, they came back for a one-day session, to consider whether they wished to override any gubernatorial vetoes. In a surprise move, the legislature also used its one-day session to pass S1152, which moves the presidential primary from March to February. The bill passed both houses, but the vote in the House was 38-25, and some House members are asking the Governor to veto that bill. Thanks to Franco Mattei for this.

Nader Sues Democratic National Committee for 2004 Dirty Tricks

October 30th, 2007

On October 30, Ralph Nader, Peter Camejo, and six voters who wanted to vote for Nader in 2004, filed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee. The lawsuit, Nader v Democratic National Committee, 2007ca-7245B, was filed in the District of Columbia Superior Court. The complaint is 70 pages long. It details the national Democratic Party’s extensive support for challenges to Nader’s ballot positions, in states in which elections officials had accepted Nader’s petitions and placed him on the ballot. The complaint goes into great detail, including a coordinated effort to sabotage individual petition sheets in Oregon (anti-Nader activists were instructed to sign a petition sheet in the space reserved for the circulator, and then to line it out, which had the effect of ruining all the signatures already on that sheet). The complaint also talks about harassment of Nader circulators in Ohio and Oregon. The complaint also deals with incidents in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The lawsuit asks for a jury trial, in a claim for monetary damages.

“Clean Elections” New Jersey Libertarian Fails to Get Injunctive Relief

October 30th, 2007

New Jersey has a pilot program in this year’s legislative elections. Candidates in 3 particular legislative districts (but no other districts) could qualify for public funding, if they received $5 contributions from 400 voters in their district. One Libertarian, Jason Scheurer, in one of those 3 districts, did qualify, as did his major party opponents. However, the ballot will say “Clean Elections Candidate” next to the names of his opponents, and not next to Scheurer’s name. Also, since Scheurer is not a Democrat or a Republican, his amount of public funding is only a small fraction of the amount that his major party opponents are receiving.

Scheurer filed a lawsuit on October 10, arguing that the discriminatory treatment is unconstitutional, and also that he should also have “Clean Elections Candidate” next to his name on the ballot. On October 26, the court denied injunctive relief on the matter of the ballot label, on the grounds that Scheurer should have filed his lawsuit no later than September, when the ballots were printed. The other issues in the case are still alive and will be heard later.

Florida Court Says Write-in Candidates are Real Candidates

October 30th, 2007

On October 29, a Florida state court ruled that a declared write-in candidate is just as much a candidate as someone who is listed on the ballot. Florida’s Constitution says that when the only candidates running for a partisan office are from the same party, and the winner of the primary will have no opposition whatsoever in the general election, then all voters (not just members of that party) may vote in that party’s primary for that particular office.

Since Florida’s major parties don’t like members of other parties voting in their primaries, they frequently recruit someone to file as a declared write-in candidate in the general election for that office. That method, described as a “loophole”, means that the special Constitutional provision doesn’t apply, since the winner of the primary will still have opposition in the general election from the write-in candidate.

In 2006, a lawsuit had been filed by a Florida voter, arguing that write-in candidates in general elections are so weak and insubstantial that they should be deemed not to exist. The case is Jacobson v Martin, Lake Co. Circuit Court, 2006-ca-1160. But the judge ruled that a write-in candidate is “opposition”, and said that a write-in candidate should not be treated as non-existent. And, in support of his conclusion, it should be noted that write-in candidates have been elected to state legislatures at general elections in 1989 (Virginia), 1990 (Rhode Island), 1994 (Kansas), 1998 (Tennessee), and 2006 (Massachusetts). Write-in candidates frequently win local office.

Senator Bill Nelson Will Ask Court to Expedite Florida Democratic Case

October 30th, 2007

U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging the ability of the National Democratic Party to strip the Florida Democratic Party of its delegates to the national convention, will ask the U.S. District Court to expedite his lawsuit. The case is pending in the Northern District of Florida, and is called Nelson v Dean, no. 4:07-cv-427. Nelson’s request will be filed on October 31. Thanks to Professor Franco Mattei for this news.

New York State Highest Court Will Hear Case on Local Parties v State Organizations

October 30th, 2007

On October 18, the New York State Court of Appeals agreed to hear Master v Pohanka. This case concerns a dispute between the state organization of the Working Families Party, and the Suffolk County Working Families Party. The issue is whether a state party may have a bylaw taking power over nominations away from the county party and placing it in the hands of the state party.

The Independence Party has a similar case pending in the State Court of Appeals, called Conroy v Independence Party of New York State. The State Court of Appeals hasn’t accepted that case yet, but in any event the decision in the Working Families Party will settle the issue for both parties.

Century Foundation Commentary on Upcoming U.S. Supreme Court Photo Voter-ID Case

October 29th, 2007

See this interesting commentary on the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case Indiana Democratic Party v Rokita. That case concerns Indiana’s law requiring most voters at the polls to show government photo-ID, in order to vote.

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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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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]

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