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2008
PETITIONING FOR PRESIDENT
(updated
October 7, 2008)
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TOTAL
STATES ON THE BALLOT
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Libertarian
Party
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Green
Party
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Constitution
Party
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Nader
(Indep.)
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45
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32
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37
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46
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June 30th, 2008
On June 30, the chair of the Maine Democratic Party filed a lawsuit in state court, to remove the only independent candidate for U.S. Senate from the November ballot. The case is Knutson v Department of the Secretary of State, Kennebec County. The Secretary of State had determined that the candidate, Herb Hoffman, has 4,000 valid signatures. The lawsuit argues that the Secretary of State is mistaken. The specific dispute includes whether a signature is valid if the signer gives a Post Office Box address, and whether certain signatures were properly witnessed.
Hoffman is a former Democrat who supported Dennis Kucinich for president. Hoffman became disillusioned with the Democratic Party, partly because of how Kucinich was treated, and partly he disagrees with the stances of the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate on foreign policy. If Hoffman is removed from the ballot, there will only be two choices remaining on the Maine ballot in November for U.S. Senate.
June 30th, 2008
Two petitioning candidates for the U.S. House in Illinois will probably file a federal lawsuit soon. It will allege that because Illinois only requires 5,000 signatures (exactly) in years after redistricting, therefore there is no state interest in requiring between 9,000 and 15,000 in all other election years.
Illinois is the only state that has ever had a fixed petition requirement for petitioning candidates for U.S. House in certain years (years such as 1982, 1992, 2002, 2012), and a much higher requirement in all other election years (5% of the last vote cast). Therefore, there are no precedents on-point.
Libertarian nominee Dan Druck collected 7,153 signatures this year, and independent Allan Stevo collected approximately 7,100. Both were challenged on the last day for challenges. The law required Druck to collect 9,858 valid signatures, and Stevo needed 10,111. The requirements are considerably higher in mid-term years.
June 30th, 2008
On June 28-29, the American Independent Party held its state convention in Los Angeles. The convention chose Ed King for state chair, and nominated a slate of presidential electors pledged to Chuck Baldwin for president. Approximately 35 delegates attended. Outgoing state chair Ed Noonan did not attend. Outgoing vice-chair Mark Seidenberg did appear at the convention hotel, but he did not enter the convention hall. Noonan and Seidenberg are opposed to Baldwin’s nomination, and support Alan Keyes.
The convention had been called by 9 state officers of the party, more than a month before the convention itself. The officers had acted when it appeared that Noonan would not be calling a state convention this year. The party hired a professional parliamentarian to help with the meeting.
Noonan has called an alternate state convention for July 5-6 in Sacramento.
June 30th, 2008
New York doesn’t permit independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to start circulating petitions until July 7. Ralph Nader’s petition in New York will carry the ballot label “Populist”. The logo will be a buffalo.
June 30th, 2008
Today was the last day for anyone in Illinois to file an objection to a petition filed by an independent candidate, or the petition of a previously unqualified or new party. No one challenged any of the four petitions turned in for president. Those petitions were for the Libertarian, Constitution and New Parties, and Ralph Nader as an independent.
The Libertarian and Constitution Parties also have a candidate for U.S. Senate listed on their petitions. The Constitution statewide petition only has 300 signatures on it. However, under Illinois rules, that is enough, given that no one challenged.
The New Party turned in a petition form that had the top part filled out correctly, listing John Joseph Polachek as its presidential candidate. It listed no one for vice-president and no one for U.S. Senate, and has zero signatures. But because no one challenged, it is also now valid. Illinois law allows substitution, so if John Joseph Polachek does not wish to actually run for president, he and the substitution committee are free to choose someone else for president, and anyone they wish for vice-president.
The two Libertarian candidates for U.S. House were challenged, as was independent U.S. House candidate Allan Stevo.
June 30th, 2008
Rock the Debates has been fighting to persuade the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to agree to at least one general election presidential debate that includes presidential candidates who could theoretically win the election. See www.rockthedebates.org. The group’s activists hold a conference call approximately twice a month. The group is seeking to expand, and particularly wants to have an official representative of the Constitution and Green presidential campaigns. Contact Bob Sullentrup at rwsully@charter.net, or 636-946-3227, if you want to be part of Rock the Debates.
June 30th, 2008
To see the film of George Stephanopoulos interviewing Ralph Nader on June 29, use this link.
June 30th, 2008
Bob Barr was interviewed by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, on June 29. Thanks to ThirdPartyWatch, here is the transcript.
June 29th, 2008
Vince Miller died on June 28, 2008. He was 69. He had founded the Libertarian International in 1980. In 1989 it had been merged with the Society for Individual Liberty, to create the International Society for Individual Liberty. It held annual conferences in sites all over the world. See this obituary by Eric Garris. His death is shocking, since he had attended the Libertarian national convention just a month before he died.
June 29th, 2008
Both the Washington Post and the New York Times have now run editorials, attacking the U.S. Supreme Court decision Davis v Federal Election Commission. The Post editorial is here; the Times editorial is here. Neither editorial mentions that the U.S. promised to “provide the necessary legal guarantees to enable candidates to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law” when we signed the Copenhagen Meeting Document (part of the Helsinki Accords) in 1990. Nor does either editorial mention that, if the “Millionaire’s Amendment” had been made applicable to presidential candidates, individuals could only have contributed $2,300 to Hillary Clinton, whereas those same individuals would have been free to contribute $6,900 to Barack Obama. It happens that Congress didn’t make the “millionaire’s amendment” apply to presidential candidates, but it could have. Clinton spent more than $350,000 of her own money on her own campaign, whereas Obama did not. Thanks to Rick Hasen’s electionlawblog for the links.
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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
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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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