Wayne Root Makes Heroic Attempt to Phone All Libertarian National Convention Delegates

April 28th, 2008

Wayne A. Root, one of the candidates for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination, is setting out to telephone every Libertarian Party delegate to the May national convention. Since not all states have even finalized their list of delegates, he is working with an even more expansive list, a list of potential delegates plus actual delegates, which has over 1,000 names on it. Others may be able to contradict me, but I doubt that anyone seeking any minor party’s presidential nomination has ever actually done that very time-consuming and worthwhile task. Perhaps major party presidential candidates, back in past times when a large share of major party national convention delegates were unpledged, made a similar effort.



U.S. Supreme Court Mostly Upholds Indiana Government Photo ID Law for Voting at Polls

April 28th, 2008

On April 28, the U.S. Supreme Court mostly upheld Indiana’s law requiring voters at the polls to show a photo Government-ID. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court, and his opinion was co-signed by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy. His opinion is 21 pages long. See here for the opinion.

Justice Antonin Scalia concurred, saying the law is always constitutional, and his concurrence was signed by Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. Scalia wrote 6 pages.

Justice David Souter write a dissent, co-signed by Justice Ruth Breyer. which is 30 pages. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote his own dissent, which is 5 pages.

The conclusion reached by the Court as a whole is that the law may be unconstitutional as applied to a small number of voters who must incur cost in order to obtain the ID, but that since this case has no such voters as plaintiffs, it fails to reach that claim. Another lawsuit with that particular type of voter as a plaintiff may reach it in the future. Stevens’ decision says, “While it is true that obtaining a birth certificate carries with it a financial cost, the record does not provide even a rough estimate of how many indigent voters lack copies of their birth certificates. Supposition based on extensive Internet research is not an adequate substitute for admissible evidence subject to cross-examination in constitutional litigation.” (Footnote 20). This important footnote provides a guidepath for future litigants.

All of the decisions in this case (the court’s opinion, the concurrence, and the dissent) speak about the ballot access precedents. One encouraging sign is that Justice Scalia acknowledged the Storer v Brown test, that ballot access laws that are seldom used are unconstitutional. That test, created by the Court in 1974, frequently gets overlooked by lower courts, particularly courts in Georgia that close their eyes to the evidence that no minor party has ever managed to qualify a candidate for US House of Representatives. Having the test reiterated in a 2008 decision will help persuade lower courts that the test should be noted and used.

West Virginia Constitution Party Sues Park Official For Denying Petitioning Access

April 27th, 2008

On April 18, the West Virginia Constitution Party filed a federal lawsuit to get access for its petitioners to work in Stonewall Jackson Lake State Park. The case is Constitution Party of W.V. v Jezioro. The party is represented by the Rutherford Institute. State officials barred petitioning from last year’s National Hunting and Fishing Day festivities at that park, and the party hopes to prevent that from happening again.

The party has 11,000 signatures on its statewide petition, which carries the name of stand-in candidates for president and vice-president, and the party’s gubernatorial candidate. Since the petition requires 15,118, the party will probably be unable to complete the petition by the May deadline that applies to non-presidential candidates. The petition won’t be wasted, because it can still be used for president if it is finished by August 1. West Virginia irrationally requires petitions for office other than president to be submitted in May, but presidential petitions are due much later. A party remains on the ballot if it polls 1% for Governor, though, so it is a disappointment of the party can’t qualify for the gubernatorial race.

The same outcome affected the Libertarian Party in 2004 in West Virginia. It got on the ballot for president, but not Governor. The party filed a lawsuit in 2004 to challenge the May deadline, in state court, but the State Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

Constitution Party Vote for Vice-President

April 27th, 2008

The Constitution Party vote on April 26 for vice-president was: Darrell Castle 389, Scott Bradley 58, Don Grundmann 43.7, Mad Max Riekse 13.3, Susan Ducey 8.

42 of Don Grundmann’s votes came from California.

Scott Bradley got votes as follows: Colorado 3, Illinois 2, Iowa 7, Louisiana 9, Missouri 2, Nebraska 5, New Jersey 2, Ohio 1, Oregon 1, Pennsylvania 3, South Carolina 1, Texas 7, Utah 15. Utah changed its votes from favorite son Bradley, to Castle, at the end of the roll call. Thanks to Timothy Knibbs for this information.

Rush Limbaugh Boasts of Persuading Republicans to Intervene in Democratic Primaries

April 27th, 2008

A spate of news articles on April 27 cover Rush Limbaugh’s recent boasts that he has influenced many Republicans to re-register as Democrats, in order to boost Hillary Clinton’s vote and thereby injure the Democratic Party. Here is an article from the San Francisco Chronicle. Although there is little evidence, the evidence that exists is significant. For example, an exit poll from Pennsylvania showed that 41% of the self-identified Republicans who had registered Democratic to vote in this month’s primary, and who had voted for Hillary Clinton, also said they would not be supportive of her in the general election.

This is a fertile field for political science and journalistic research, and it may influence court decisions when the constitutionality of open primaries is challenged by political parties.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution Article on Bob Barr

April 27th, 2008

The April 26 Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this story about Bob Barr’s campaign for the Libertarian presidential nomination. Thanks to Jack Dean for the link.

Darrell Castle is Constitution Party Vice-Presidential Nominee

April 26th, 2008

The Constitution Party’s vice-presidential candidate is Darrell Castle, an attorney from Memphis, Tennessee. He won the nomination on the first ballot. The key factor in his victory was that presidential nominee Chuck Baldwin asked the convention to choose Castle. Also, Mary Starrett told the convention that she didn’t want the vice-presidential nomination.

North Carolina Greens Choose Mostly McKinney Delegates

April 26th, 2008

On April 26, the North Carolina Green Party chose delegates to the national convention. The delegates comprise 5 pledged to Cynthia McKinney, 2 to Jesse Johnson, and one to Kent Mesplay. Thanks to Kai Schwandes for this news. Among those seeking the Green nomination, McKinney so far is leading in every state that has already chosen delegates. The convention will be July 10-13 in Chicago.

Constitution Party Vice-Presidential Selection

April 26th, 2008

The most significant vice-presidential candidates for the Constitution Party are Law Professor Scott Bradley of Utah (the party’s US Senate candidate in 2006), attorney Darrell Castle of Tennessee, and Mary Starrett of Oregon (the party’s 2006 gubernatorial nominee). Alan Keyes has said he will not seek the vice-presidential nomination. A few other vice-presidential candidates have also announced, but the three with the most support are the three named above. The convention will choose one late Saturday afternoon (April 26).

Past Constitution Party vice-presidential candidates have been: 1992 Albion W. Knight; 1996 Herbert W. Titus; 2000 J. Curtis Frazier; 2004 Chuck Baldwin.

Cindy Sheehan Begins Independent Petition to Run for Congress

April 26th, 2008

On April 24, peace activist Cindy Sheehan began her drive to collect 10,198 valid signatures, to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. House in San Francisco. She garnered considerable publicity; see here for the San Francisco Chronicle story.

California has one of the strictest laws in the nation for independent candidates for U.S. House. No one has qualified for that office as an independent since 1996, when Steven Wheeler qualified in the 22nd district (Monterey area). Sheehan had an alternate path to the November ballot. She could have been a write-in candidate in the Green Party’s primary, or the Peace & Freedom Party primary. She would have needed 1,847 write-ins to win either of those nominations (she couldn’t appear on either of those parties’ primary ballot because of her prior registration history). She chose the independent petition method, either because she perceived it is easier, or because she is more comfortable as an Independent than as a Green or Peace & Freedom nominee.

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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.