Massachusetts Senate Will Vote on National Popular Vote Bill on Wednesday

July 29th, 2008

The Massachusetts Senate had been expected to take up the National Popular Vote Plan bill on July 29, but the vote has been postponed until July 30. The bill is H 4952. UPDATE: it didn’t get a vote on July 30 but is near the top of the agenda for July 31.



Louisiana Candidate Asks State Supreme Court to Put Him on Ballot

July 29th, 2008

Jimmy Fahrenholtz has asked the Louisiana Supreme Court to restore him to the Democratic Party primary ballot. He is running for U.S. House, 2nd district (New Orleans district). The State Court of Appeals had tied 4-4 on whether to restore him to the ballot. The lower court had removed him because it said he had signed a false statement, as to whether he had any outstanding campaign finance law fines when he had run earlier for New Orleans School Board. He argues, with considerable legal authority behind him, that candidates for Congress cannot be kept off ballots if they meet the constitutional qualifications and show a modicum of support. The case is Williams v Fahrenholtz, 2008-c-1680. The Court has not yet said if it will hear his appeal.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Newspaper Editorial on Eliminating Ballot Costs for Nader

July 29th, 2008

The July 29 issue of the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania daily newspaper, the Patriot-News, has this editorial. It calls for cancelling the costs that had been levied against Ralph Nader, from his 2004 petition challenge process. Nader has never paid the $81,102.19 that was charged to him, to pay for the costs incurred by the people who challenged his petition. Although the challengers have been trying for years to attach the money from Nader’s bank account, the bank is in the District of Columbia, and the D.C. courts have not been willing to permit the money to be attached. Peter Camejo already paid $20,000 to the challengers, however. Camejo had been Nader’s vice-presidential running mate in 2004.

Kentucky Secretary of State Reverses Stance on Whether Landham Can be on as Independent

July 29th, 2008

Unfortunately, on July 29, the Kentucky Secretary of State retracted his ruling that the Libertarian Party of Kentucky could choose to have Sonny Landham on the November ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. Senate instead of as a Libertarian. Now the choices are either: (1) the party can submit its petition in early August and have Landham listed as a Libertarian; (2) the party can submit its petition in the middle of August, which will mean that the petition will only be valid for president and vice-president, but not U.S. Senator (the deadline for the presidential and vice-presidential candidate is in early September, but the deadline for all other office is in early August). In that case Landham won’t be on the ballot at all.

Uncertainty on Whether One Arkansas Legislative Race Will Have Only a Green on the Ballot

July 29th, 2008

Richard Carroll, Green Party nominee for the Arkansas state house, 39th district, still doesn’t know if he will be the only name on the November ballot or not. The Democratic Party of Arkansas had disqualified its nominee, Dwayne Dobbins, after he won the May 2008 primary. The Democratic Party took this action because Dobbins, a former state legislator, had resigned in the middle of the prior term as part of a plea bargain to avoid felony prosecution for a sexual assault on a 17-year-old girl. The only reason Dobbins won the 2008 primary was because everyone had expected his wife, Sharon Dobbins, to file for re-election. But she surprised everyone by not filing, and only Dwayne Dobbins filed, at the last minute.

Now the Democrats have been reminded that their disqualification of Dobbins would probably not be upheld in court, under a precedent from 1994 involving a Republican candidate for Attorney General who was in a somewhat similar situation. To counter that, the Arkansas House Speaker plans to propose a rule to disqualify anyone from taking office in the legislature who had previously resigned as part of a plea bargain. The legislature reconvenes August 5.

No one yet knows whether Dwayne Dobbins will sue to regain his spot on the November ballot. He may be discouraged from trying to sue, if he knows that he can’t be seated anyway. But if he does sue, and if he wins the lawsuit (which is very likely) then there would be two candidates on the November ballot after all. In any event, there is also a Democratic write-in candidate.

Prohibition Party Expects to be on Most Ballots Since 1980

July 29th, 2008

The Prohibition Party expects to be on the ballot for president in these six states this year: Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. That is modest, but it will be the most since 1980, when it was on in eight states for president.

New Jersey Presidential Filing Closes

July 29th, 2008

Petitioning candidates for president who filed by the July 28 New Jersey deadline are Bob Barr, Roger Calero, Gloria La Riva, Cynthia McKinney, Brian Moore, and Ralph Nader. Also someone named Jeffrey Boss of Guttenberg, New Jersey, filed under the “Vote Here” Party label. His vice-presidential running-mate is Andrea Maria Boss.

The Constitution Party did not submit a petition, even though it is almost finished, because its members believed the petition deadline is August 11. UPDATE: the Constitution Party has just sent proof (by fax) that the petition form that was given to them has instructions on the front page that say the petition is due August 11. The New Jersey Elections Department has acknowledged that it made this error, and has suggested that if the petitions are submitted very quickly, they will be accepted.

The New Jersey Elections Department webpage erroneously has Gloria La Riva’s ballot label as “Socialism and Libertarian”, but the Department says that will be fixed very soon. The La Riva petition says “Socialism and Liberation.”

Pollina to Run for Vermont Governor as an Independent, Not a Progressive Party Nominee

July 28th, 2008

On July 21, Anthony Pollina announced that he will run Vermont Governor as an independent candidate, not as the nominee of the Progressive Party. To get on the ballot as an independent, he only needs 250 signatures by September 12 (Vermont petition requirements are easier for non-presidential independents). Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for this news. Pollina still is loyal to the Progressive Party, and has been its state chair, but he feels his campaign will be more successful with the “independent” label.

Kentucky Libertarians Withdraw Nomination of Sonny Landham for U.S. Senate

July 28th, 2008

On the evening of July 28, the Kentucky Libertarian Party state committee voted 9-0 to remove Sonny Landham as the party’s U.S. Senate nominee. See this news story.

Independent Candidate for U.S. House Sues Illinois Over Number of Signatures

July 28th, 2008

On July 28, an independent candidate for U.S. House filed a federal lawsuit against Illinois’ 5% (of the last vote cast) petition requirement for that office. Illinois law says that in years after redistricting, such as 1982, 1992, 2002, etc., the number of signatures for an independent for U.S. House is exactly 5,000 signatures. But in all other election years, it is 5% of the last vote cast, which can be as high as 13,000 signatures.

The plaintiff is Allan Stevo, running in the 10th district. He submitted approximately 7,150 signatures, but he was challenged. The law requires him to submit 10,111. He will submit evidence showing that in years in which the requirement is only 5,000 signatures, the ballot is never crowded. The 5,000-signature requirement for years after redistricting has been in effect starting with 1982, and when one looks at the record for 1982, 1992, and 2002, one finds that there were no U.S. House races in Illinois with more than three candidates on the ballot (except that there was one race with four candidates). The case is Stevo v Illinois State Board of Elections, U.S. District Court, Central District, no. 08-3162.

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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!

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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]

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