2008 PETITIONING FOR PRESIDENT
(updated September 26, 2008)
TOTAL STATES ON THE BALLOT
Libertarian Party
Green Party
Constitution Party
Nader (Indep.)
45
32
37
46
 
     

Major Candidates’ Vote Totals So Far

January 30th, 2008

Given Rudy Giuliani’s withdrawal, there are only 7 major party presidential candidates remaining who have had the organizational strength to qualify for all presidential primary ballots they wished to be on. Adding up the votes from the four states that have held presidential primaries yields these totals:

Republicans: McCain 1,182,765; Romney 1,073,491; Huckabee 557,138; Paul 150,518.

Democrats: Clinton 1,435,440; Obama 967,577; Edwards 390,062.

Note that this compilation only includes presidential primaries, not caucuses. Also note that there were also 237,558 votes in the Michigan Democratic primary for “uncommitted”, and that Edwards and Obama chose not to be on the Michigan ballot. Clinton’s national primary total without Michigan is 1,107,916.

Clinton has renewed her call for the Democratic national convention to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida. UPDATE: press reports say Edwards will also withdraw on January 30.



New York State Board of Elections Wants 3 Republicans Removed from Primary Ballot; New York City Board Rebels

January 29th, 2008

On January 28, the New York State Board of Elections voted to remove Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, and Alan Keyes from the Republican presidential primary ballot. The stated reason is that Hunter and Thompson have withdrawn, and that Alan Keyes didn’t submit a slate of delegates.

However, many observers feel the real reason is to put Rudy Giuliani in a more favorable position on the Republican ballot. The candidates are listed in random order. Ron Paul won the drawing for top spot; Giuliani won the 4th spot. But if Hunter, Thompson and Keyes were removed, Giuliani would then be in the 2nd spot.

The New York City Board of Elections is refusing to alter the Republican ballot within New York city. It argues that the order of the State Board is invalid, because it argues that the State Board had no quorum. See this story for more details.

Florida Presidential Primary Results

January 29th, 2008

One good source for the Florida tally is the CNN election returns page.

Kentucky Presidential Primaries

January 29th, 2008

Filing for the Kentucky presidential primaries closed on January 29. Candidates gain a place on the ballot either by showing that they are on in at least 20 other state presidential primaries, or by being entitled to receive primary season matching funds, or by submitting 5,000 signatures.

Republicans are Giuliani, Huckabee, Keyes, McCain, Paul, and Romney. Democrats are Clinton, Edwards, and Obama.

Huckabee is Also on West Virginia Republican Primary Ballot

January 29th, 2008

Yesterday’s post named the candidates who had paid $2,500 to be on the major party West Virginia presidential primaries. The only name added since then is Mike Huckabee, who mailed his check on the deadline (which is permitted).

Useful Brennan Center Article about Deadlines for Independent Voters to Re-Register, if they Want to Vote in Presidential Primaries

January 29th, 2008

On January 15, the Brennan Center posted a useful and interesting essay on dates by which independent voters must have changed their registration, in order to vote in 2008 presidential primaries. Of course, the article only deals with states in which presidential primaries are limited to registered party members.

Among the states that hold presidential primaries on February 5, these states provide that any voter can vote in any party’s primary: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah.

Among the February 5 primary states, these states let independents choose any primary: Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey (Illinois doesn’t have party registration, but records are kept of which primary a voter voted in at the previous primary). However, in these states, party members must stick to their own party.

Among the February 5 primary states, these states only let party members vote in primaries: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Oklahoma.

In California, independents may vote in the Democratic primary if they ask (at the polls, no one will volunteer the information), but they may not vote in the Republican primary.

This post only covers primary states, not caucus states. States that are holding caucuses on February 5 are Alaska, Colorado, Idaho Democrats, Kansas Democrats, Minnesota, New Mexico Democrats, North Dakota. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link to the Brennan Center article.

West Virginia Presidential Primary

January 28th, 2008

Filing closed on January 26, Saturday evening, for the West Virginia presidential primary. Candidates needed a fee of $2,500, but no petition.

The Democratic ballot will list only Clinton, Edwards and Obama. This is the least crowded Democratic presidential primary ballot of any state so far. Of course, that is because most of the Democrats running for president had already dropped out.

The Republican ballot will list Jerry Curry of Haymarket, Virginia; and the expected Giuliani, McCain, Paul and Romney. The West Virginia primary is in May. Although Mike Huckabee hasn’t filed yet, if he mailed his check with a January 26 postmark, he can still qualify.

The Mountain Party is ballot-qualified and could have had its own presidential primary, but it chose not to. It is the West Virginia affiliate of the Green Party.

Florida Newspaper Story on State’s 30 Qualified Parties

January 28th, 2008

The Sun-Herald newspaper of southwest Florida has this January 28 story about the fact that Florida has 30 qualified parties. A party can be ballot-qualified in Florida just by writing a letter to the Secretary of State, listing its state officers.

The reason Florida doesn’t have a crowded general election ballot for president is that a party can’t automatically qualify a presidential nominee for the November ballot unless it is on the ballot in at least one other state, and unless it produces a list of 27 presidential elector candidates who are registered members of the party. Although this requirement isn’t that difficult, most of the qualified parties of Florida are so insubstantial, they can’t even do that.

The reason Florida doesn’t have a crowded general election ballot for office other than president is that it charges non-presidential candidates a very high filing fee (6% of the office’s annual salary, which means approximately $9,000 for Congress).

Minnesota Independence Party Teams Up with national Independence Party

January 27th, 2008

On January 27, the Minnesota Independence Party, which has been ballot-qualified since 1994, voted to affiliate itself with the new Independence Party of America. The Minnesota party’s webpage already mentions this step. Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch for this news.

TIME Magazine Interview with Clay Mulford About Mayor Bloomberg

January 27th, 2008

The TIME Magazine of January 27 has this interview with Clay Mulford. Mulford was in charge of ballot access for Ross Perot. Michael Bloomberg had met with him earlier in the month, so TIME mostly asked Mulford about what Bloomberg and he had discussed.

The interview is somewhat misleading, because it says that Bloomberg would need 74,108 signatures in Texas. In reality, he would only need 43,991 if he accepted the nomination of any of the three Texas parties that wants to nominate him. Thanks to Earl Divoky for this news.

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »

 

  

Paper Issues:

Blog Archives Syndication

Subscribe to Ballot Access News via PayPal. Subscriptions are $15 for 12 issues a year ($20 foreign). Additional donations are welcome.

Subscribe to Ballot Access News via PayPal.
If you use your credit card to pay via PayPal, use this button.
New Feature:
Search Ballot Access News

Search ballot-access.org
Search WWW

 
Access to this site is free. Your donations support this site and the activities of Richard Winger in lobbying for free and open elections.

To subscribe via mail, click here and print out the form to mail.

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.

Issues available:

2008:

2007:

2006:

2005:

2004:

2003:

2002:

2001:

2000:

1999:

1998:

1997:

1996:

1995:

1994:

1993:

  • 1993 Issues not yet available online

Essays by Richard Winger:

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.