Two Michigan Newspapers Condemn Discriminatory Law on Voter Lists

November 25th, 2007

On November 23, the Detroit news condemned the Michigan Supreme Court for upholding a discriminatory law on which parties may obtain the list of presidential primary voters. See that editorial here. On November 25, the Record-Eagle of Traverse City printed an editorial voicing the same sentiments. See it here.



Working Families Party Elected Two Members of Hartford, Connecticut City Council

November 25th, 2007

At the November 6, 2007 election, two Working Families Party nominees for Hartford, Connecticut, city council, were elected. They are Luis E. Cotto and Larry Deutsch.

Hartford, like some other Connecticut and Pennsylvania cities and counties, as well as Washington, D.C., provides that for certain multi-winner elections, no political party may run a full slate. Hartford was electing nine city councilmembers (at large), but provides that no political party may run more than six nominees. At the November 2007 election in Hartford, 6 Democrats, 1 Republican, and 2 Working Families Party nominees were elected.

Bloomberg Hires Foreign Policy Advisor

November 25th, 2007

A spate of newspaper articles on November 22 report that New York city Mayor Michael Bloomberg has hired an expert on foreign policy to advise him. This, of course, has led to more speculation that Bloomberg may yet run as an independent for president next year. Here is one story.

Michigan Legislature Now Likely to Pass Bill Expanding List of Democratic Presidential Candidates

November 25th, 2007

On November 24, Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon, a Democrat, said he expects to bring HB 4507 up for a vote in the Michigan House on Monday, November 26. This bill changes the criteria for listing candidates in major party presidential primaries. The existing law requires such candidates to file. The bill alters this, so that the Secretary of State automatically places presidential candidates on the ballot if they are mentioned in the news media as candidates. No one may withdraw unless he or she swears to not being a candidate.

If this bill passes, it will have the effect of adding such candidates as Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson to the Michigan Democratic ballot. They had not filed because the Democratic National Committee considers the Michigan primary illegitimate because of its early (January 15) deadline.

The bill passed the Senate on November 8, but not with the required two-thirds to take effect immediately. If the bill passes the House with two-thirds on November 26, then it will return to the Senate for another vote. In the meantime, Michigan presidential primary ballots are still not being printed. When they are printed, the state will be in violation of a federal law that requires overseas absentee ballots to be mailed in time for those overseas voters to return their ballots in time to be counted.

Former World Chess Champion is Jailed in Russian Ballot Access Protest

November 24th, 2007

On November 24, former world chess champion Garry Kasparov and others were jailed for participating in a protest against Russian ballot access laws. Demonstrators are angry that Other Russia Party is barred from the ballot in the upcoming parliamentary elections. See this report. The new Russian ballot access law bars parties from the ballot unless they show that they have at least 50,000 members. The former law only required 10,000 members.

Pennsylvania Press Covers Romanelli Decision

November 24th, 2007

Here is an article in The Citizens Voice, daily newspaper of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, about the November 20 decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court over costs for candidates whose petitions are challenged.

Back on January 24, 2007, Commonwealth Court Judge James R. Kelley had ruled that Carl Romanelli, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, must pay $25,481 in wages to the Democratic Party’s petition reviewers, $1,500 for handwriting expert witnesses (even though those witnesses were never used), $48,285 in attorneys’ fees, $3,726 to stenographers, and $1,415 for copying costs. For each category of costs, Judge Kelley explained his rationale. His chief rationale was that the Green Party had failed to have 9 petition reviewers, every day from 8:30 am to 5 pm, during September 2006. Kelly’s order is 24 pages long.

Now the Pennsylvania Supreme Court wants Judge Kelly to further explain his order. It will be interesting to see how long that takes. In the meantime, the various minor parties of Pennsylvania will have time to file a federal challenge to the constitutionality of the Pennsylvania petition-checking system, based on U.S. Supreme Court precedents that poor candidates cannot be charged mandatory fees for running for office. Romanelli owns no real estate, no automobile, has scant savings, and cannot possibly pay $80,408 plus interest.

Politico Story on Unhappy Independent Voters

November 24th, 2007

On November 24, Politico published this story by Ben Smith, about independent voters (he calls them “Perot voters”) who seem unhappy with all the leading presidential candidates so far this year. Thanks to Jack Dean for the referral.

Nevada Constitution Party Will Sue for Exemption from Campaign Disclosure

November 24th, 2007

In 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that campaign finance disclosure laws are unconstitutional, if they are applied to minor parties whose members and supporters will be harassed if their identities are known. The Socialist Workers Party won this case. The court not only excused the SWP from disclosing the names of people who contribute to party electoral campaigns; it also exempted the party from disclosing its campaign expenditures. This was because, if the party had been required to disclose how it spends its money, those reports would have revealed the names of the party’s employees. The case was called Brown v Socialist Workers ’74 Campaign Committee, 459 US 87.

Since then, three other socialist parties have won similar exemptions. They are the Communist Party, the Socialist Action Party, and the Freedom Socialist Party. Non-socialist minor parties have never even tried to win similar exemptions. Now, however, the Nevada branch of the Constitution Party (which, in Nevada, is the Independent American Party) will make such an attempt, in a lawsuit being prepared. For some years, the Nevada party has been subject to the hostility of various branches of local and state government in Nevada. These disputes have involved arresting party activists for petitioning on public property, and disputes over campaign finance reports.

Michigan Primary Ballots Not Yet Being Printed

November 23rd, 2007

Here is a Michigan newspaper story that reveals that county elections officials are not yet printing presidential primary ballots, because they can’t be printed until they are designed and then approved by each candidate whose name will be on that ballot.

Independently of that article, BAN editor Richard Winger talked on the telephone today to one Michigan county clerk, and she said she is not printed any ballots yet. She said the Secretary of State merely told each county to “begin preparations”, a very vague command.

Massachusetts Legislature Adjourns Without Passing National Popular Vote Plan

November 22nd, 2007

The Massachusetts legislature adjourned for the year on November 21, and didn’t pass the National Popular Vote Plan, HB 678. However, Massachusetts has two-year legislative sessions, so the bill will get a House vote early in 2008. It has passed all committee hurdles.

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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.