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January 31st, 2008
On January 31, Mayor Bloomberg said not only that he is not a candidate for president, but that he will not become a candidate for president. See this story. Thanks to Thomas Jones.
January 31st, 2008
On January 25, the Ron Paul campaign filed a complaint with the Louisiana Republican Party over the confusion in the party’s caucus procedures. See this story. Thanks to Steve Rankin.
January 31st, 2008
The Reform Institute, associated somewhat with U.S. Senator John McCain, released “Presidential Ballot Access: A State by State Scorecard” on January 30. The 70-page report can be seen here. The Report condemns restrictive ballot access laws, and for that, it is praiseworthy.
Unfortunately, the state-by-state pages are massively inaccurate. The only accurate pages are for Connecticut, Iowa, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Some of the errors say that the state requirements are easier than they actually are, while others say they are much harder than they actually are. The North Carolina page says an independent presidential candidate needs 15,000 signatures. Sadly, the actual number is 69,734. For California, the report says all a new party needs to do, to get on the ballot, is file a list of its state officers. Actually it must persuade 88,991 people to register as members.
But most of the errors portray state laws as worse than they actually are. For example, the report says a qualified party in Mississippi is one that got 20% of the vote in the last presidential election. Actually any party that submits a list of state officers, and U.S. House district officers, and a copy of its Bylaws, may be recognized.
Ballot Access News editor Richard Winger repeatedly contacted the Reform Institute, over several months last year, offering to help with the report, but those phone calls were never returned.
January 31st, 2008
On January 29, the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee defeated SB 52, the National Popular Vote Plan bill. Thanks to Ed Still for this news.
January 31st, 2008
On January 23, the Missouri House Urban Education Reform Committee passed HB 1310. On January 30, the Missouri House Rules Committee also passed it. It requires independent candidates, for all office, to file a declaration of candidacy in March of election years.
Since the bill does not exempt presidential independents, it is unconstitutional under both Anderson v Celebrezze, 460 US 780, and McCarthy v Kirkpatrick, 420 F Supp 366 (a 1976 Missouri federal court decision). If you live in Missouri, please contact your legislators (especially your State Senator) and oppose this bill.
January 31st, 2008
Current New Hampshire law permits write-ins in primaries. The law also says that any write-in candidate in a primary who gets the most votes for a particular office, and who gets at least 10 write-ins, is nominated. HB 1204 would raise that to a minimum of 35 write-in votes.
Although it may sound trivial to require even 35 write-in votes, many New Hampshire State House districts are very small. The state has 400 State House members, and in some districts that only a single member, fewer than 1,000 voters may turn out at the primary.
January 31st, 2008
On January 29, the Utah Senate unanimously passed SB 126, which requires declared write-in candidates to pay the same filing fee that ballot-listed candidates must pay.
Such laws have been held unconstitutional in other states, in every instance. The U.S. Supreme Court said in both 1972 and 1974 that the only legitimate purpose of filing fees is to keep ballots from being crowded with too many names. Because write-in candidates’ names do not appear on the ballot, a filing fee for them serves no legitimate state purpose. Filing fees for write-in candidates were invalidated in Maryland (Dixon v Maryland State Board of Election Laws, 878 F 2d 776, 4th cir.1989) and in West Virginia (Phillips v Hechler, 120 F Supp 2d 587, 2000).
January 31st, 2008
On January 30, the Kentucky Senate passed SB 3 by a vote of 21-14. It moves the presidential primary from May to February. If it passes, it will not have any effect until 2012.
The bill leaves the primary for office other than president in May. It provides that there would be an early presidential primary by itself, with the primary for all other office to be held separately, several months later.
Republicans generally supported the bill; Democrats generally opposed it.
January 30th, 2008
Nine supporters of Ralph Nader have created this website, asking for donations to an exploratory committee for a possible Nader presidential candidacy this year. They are Peter Camejo, Matt Gonzalez, Theresa Amato, Jason Kafoury, Sally Soriano, Matt Zawisky, Nat Coppernoll, Julie Coyle, and Carl Mayer.
The web page does not say why the Committee was created just now. However, chances are that the January 30 withdrawal of John Edwards from the Democratic presidential race triggered the move.
January 30th, 2008
On January 30, a state court in North Carolina heard oral arguments in the ballot access case filed in 2005 by the Libertarian Party (the Green Party joined into this case in 2007).
The judge said there is need for a trial, to obtain more facts.
That trial will probably be in March. It is encouraging that the judge wants a trial, because it indicates he is the type of judge who will be influenced by actual evidence. Furthermore, he seemed to be leaning toward the view that there is no state interest in requiring more than 10,000 or so signatures for a new party to get on the ballot. Thanks to Sean Haugh for this report.
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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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Issues
available: |
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2008:
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2007:
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2006:
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2005:
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2004:
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2003:
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2002:
- December
2002 Issue
(V:18– N:8)
- November
2002 Issue
(V:18– N:7)
- October
1, 2002 Issue (V:18 – N:6)
- September
1, 2002 Issue
(V:18 – N:5)
- August
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:4)
- July
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:3)
- June
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:2)
- May
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:1)
- April
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:13)
- March
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:12)
- February
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:11)
- January
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:10)
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2001:
- December
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:9)
- November
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:8)
- October
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:7)
- September
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:6)
- August
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:5)
- July
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:4)
- June
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:3)
- May
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:2)
- April
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:1)
- March
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:12)
- February
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:11)
- January
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:10)
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2000:
- December
5, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:9)
- November
16, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:8)
- October
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:7)
- September
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:6)
- August
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:5)
- July
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:4)
- June
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:3)
- May
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:2)
- April
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:1)
- March
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:12)
- February
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:11)
- January
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:10)
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1999:
- December
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:9)
- November
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:8)
- October
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:7)
- September
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:6)
- August
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:5)
- July
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:4)
- June
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:3)
- May
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:2)
- April
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:1)
- March
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:12)
- February
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:11)
- January
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:10)
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1998:
- December
8, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:9)
- November
8, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:8)
- October
4, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:7)
- September
4, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:6)
- August
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:5)
- July
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:4)
- June
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:3)
- May
7, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:2)
- April
5, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:1)
- March
8, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:12)
- February
8, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:11)
- January
5, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:10)
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1997:
- December
5, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:9)
- November
1, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:8)
- October
6, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:7)
- September
6, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:6)
- August
4, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:5)
- July
2, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:4)
BAN.
changed to a 12 issue per year schedule.
- June
2, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:3)
- May
5, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:2)
- April
7, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:1)
- March
10, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:13)
- February
10, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:12)
- January
12, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:11)
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1996:
- December
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:10)
- November
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:9)
- October
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:8)
- September
9, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:7)
- August
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:6)
- July
20, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:5)
- June
26, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:4)
- May
28, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:3)
- May
3, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:2)
- April
3, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:1)
- March
6, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:13)
- February
7, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:12)
- January
14, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:11)
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1995:
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1994:
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1993:
- 1993 Issues
not yet available online
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Additional
articles/essays:
- 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. |
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