Ron Paul & Dennis Kucinich Way Ahead for Reelection

February 28th, 2008

Polls released yesterday and today show that Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich are well ahead in their reelection campaigns. Both polls were conducted by Public Policy Polling.

Ron Paul leads his only GOP opponent, Chris Peden, 63-30%. He has no Democratic Party opponent.

Dennis Kucinich leads his Democratic opponents with 55%, over 29% for Joe Cimperman. Three other candidates register 5% or lower.



Nader Picks Matt Gonzalez for VP, Former San Francisco Board of Supervisors President

February 28th, 2008

Today, Ralph Nader chose Matt Gonzalez as his running mate. Gonzales is the former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He was one of the highest-level Green Party elected official. Gonzalez ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of San Francisco in 2003. He did not run for reelection and left the board in 2005. His supervisor seat was taken over by another Green Party member, Ross Mirkarimi.

Michigan Federal Court Issues Injunction Against Release of Primary Voter List

February 28th, 2008

On February 28, a U.S. District Court in Michigan issued an injuction, prohibiting the Secretary of State from giving the list of Republican presidential primary voters, and the list of Democratic presidential primary voters, to those two political parties. The case had been filed by the Green and Libertarian Michigan parties. The law says the lists can only be distributed to the two major parties. The judge would not have granted the injunction unless the judge felt it likely that the minor parties will prevail, in their claim that the law governing distribution is unconstitutional. Thanks to the 3 people who forwarded this news.

Bloomberg Definite: Won’t Run for President

February 27th, 2008

In Thursday’s New York Times, Michael Bloomberg writes that he definitely will not run for President this year.

He says he has changed his mind on one thing: that he may work for one of the other candidates in November.

No US Supreme Court Election Law News Today

February 27th, 2008

Wednesday, February 27: The US Supreme Court issued no election law decisions today. It did not release either of the two pending election law cases (the one from Washington state on the top-two primary, and the one from Indiana on photo ID at the polls).

Nader Campaign Report on Early Fund-Raising

February 27th, 2008

Ralph Nader’s campaign says that just since he announced, he has received contributions for his presidential campaign of $35,000, from 344 individuals.

Democrat Leading in New York State Special Senate Election

February 26th, 2008

With 42% of the vote counted, Democrat Darrel Aubertine is leading Republican Will Barclay by about 2,000 votes, in the special New York State Senate 48th district election on February 26. It will be some time before a breakdown of all 5 parties’ vote totals in available. The Working Families Party had cross-endorsed Aubertine; the Conservative and Independence Parties had cross-endorsed Barclay.

According to newspaper reports, this will be the first time this area of upstate New York has sent a Democrat to the Senate in over 100 years (assuming the initial returns hold up). The district has about 78,000 registered Republicans, 47,000 registered Democrats, and 35,000 others. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

Almost no US Supreme Court Election Law News Today

February 26th, 2008

On Tuesday, February 26, the US Supreme Court issued one opinion in a non-election law case. But it did not release either of the two pending election law cases (the one from Washington state on the top-two primary, and the one from Indiana on photo ID at the polls).

The Court will again consider whether to take Citizens United v FEC at its February 29 conference. It has not rescheduled a new conference date yet for Bartlett v Strickland, the North Carolina redistricting case.

Oregon Legislature Adjourns Without Having Passed Fusion Bill

February 25th, 2008

The Oregon legislature adjourned for the year on February 22. SB 1102, which would have legalized fusion, failed to pass.

Mayor Bloomberg Defends Nader’s Right to Run

February 25th, 2008

On February 25, Mayor Mike Bloomberg defends Ralph Nader’s moral right to run for president. See this AP story. Thanks to David Gaines for the link.

 

 

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.