At Least One Presidential Candidate is in New Orleans

August 31st, 2008

Gloria La Riva, presidential nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, reports on the situation in New Orleans, in this post dated August 31. She and her campaign manager came to Louisiana to file her ballot access paperwork, and they are now involved in helping with preparations for the storm.



California Legislature Passes Public Funding Pilot Project Bill

August 31st, 2008

The California Assembly, late on Saturday, August 30, concurred in the Senate amendments to AB 583, so the bill is now through the legislature. It sets up public funding for the Secretary of State’s race in 2014. The voters must vote on the idea, though, in 2010. As noted earlier, the bill requires twice as many qualifying contributions for independent candidates, as for Democrats and Republicans.

Nader on in Idaho for the First Time in Any of His Runs

August 31st, 2008

Ralph Nader’s success in getting on the Idaho ballot is noteworthy, because this had been one state in which he had never before been on the ballot. There are now only 4 states in which Nader has never been on the ballot: Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana, and Oklahoma.

In the past, and also this year, he will receive write-ins in Georgia, Indiana and North Carolina. Also he got write-ins in Idaho in the past. But Oklahoma prohibits write-in votes, so Oklahoma continues to be the only state in which Nader has never received any votes at all.

The lawsuit filed against Oklahoma this year by Bob Barr, to overturn the ballot access requirements, was filed on July 17. There is still no hearing date. Barr’s attorney, Jim Linger, will make a supreme effort in the next few days to get a hearing date established.

Escape Hatch for Texas Democrats, Republicans

August 30th, 2008

Although that it seems undisputed that both the Republican and Democratic Parties missed the August 26 Texas deadline for filing a certificate naming their presidential and vice-presidential nominees, there are two Texas Supreme Court decisions that say that candidates should not suffer the loss of ballot access due to the mistakes of state party officials. The cases are Davis v Taylor, 930 SW 2d 581, and Bird v Rothstein, 930 SW 2d 586. The first case put a Republican nominee for State Court of Appeals Justice on the November ballot; the second one put a Democratic nominee for state house on the November ballot.

Texas parties play a big role in Texas primary elections. Candidates running for a party nomination file declarations of candidacy with their party, not with any county or state official. Therefore, party officials have serious responsibilities for certifying various kinds of paperwork, and sometimes they make mistakes.

Given the Davis and Bird precedents, it seems plausible that Texas cannot enforce its law that requires unqualified parties to file a notice with the Secretary of State on January 2 of any election year, that it intends to petition later that year. The responsibility to file such a form rests with party officers. If they fail to file the form, but the party later submits a petition and nominates candidates, the candidates ought to be able to use the Davis and Bird precedents, along with any precedent created this year to help John McCain and Barack Obama, to avoid suffering any consequences for the failure to file the form. This policy also raises equal protection problems for the state, relative to independent candidates. In 2004, Ralph Nader submitted his independent presidential petition two weeks late. He submitted it on the more lenient deadline for minor party petitions, but the federal courts upheld the earlier deadline and kept Nader off the ballot.

Pennsylvania Hearing to Remove Barr Changed to September 5

August 30th, 2008

The Republican Party challenge to Bob Barr’s Pennsylvania ballot position has been moved from September 4 to September 5 (Friday). It will be at 10 a.m. in Courtroom One, Widener Bldg., 1339 Chestnut St., Philadelphia. Experienced election law attorney Sam Stretton will be defending Barr. The objector does not dispute the validity of the statewide Libertarian petition. Instead, he says it was improper to use a stand-in presidential candidate in the period June and July, because by then the Libertarian Party knew who its real presidential candidate would be. But, under that theory, the party would have been stuck with two separate petitions, one listing Rochelle Etzel for president, and another one listing Bob Barr for president. Neither one would have had enough signatures, and there is no procedure for combining two different petitions with different names on them.

Stand-ins are well-recognized in Pennsylvania law. All petitions carry a substitution committee, which has the authority to appoint the new nominee after the stand-in withdraws.

Sarah Palin’s Husband, Son are Registered Independents

August 30th, 2008

Sarah Palin is a registered Republican. Her husband and her oldest son are also registered voters in Alaska, yet not registered members of any political party. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

2008, the Year the Major Parties Started to Catch Up with Minor Parties on Candidate Diversity

August 30th, 2008

The first major party to nominate a woman for vice-president was the Democratic Party, in 1984. Now, in 2008, the Republican Party is also about to name a woman vice-presidential nominee.

The first major party to nominate a black for president or vice-president is the Democratic Party in 2008.

On the matter of diversity for presidential and vice-presidential nominees, the major parties are decades behind minor parties. The first minor party to name a woman for vice-president, and to actually receive valid votes, was the Prohibition Party in 1924. It named Marie Brehm for vice-president. The first minor party to name a woman for president, and to actually receive valid votes, was the Communist Party. It named Charlene Mitchell in 1968.

The first minor party to name a black for either president or vice-president, and to actually receive valid votes, was the Communist Party in 1932. It names James Ford for vice-president. The first minor party to name a black for president was the Socialist Workers Party, which nominated Clifton DeBerry in 1964.

Many have asserted that the Equal Rights Party of the late 19th century was the first minor party to set these records. But the Equal Rights Party did not actually nominate any candidates for presidential elector and then print up ballots naming those candidates for presidential elector. The party was free to do that, but did not do that. Svend Petersen, author of A Statistical History of the American Presidential Elections, meticulously went through the records of the vote for presidential electors, sent in by each state to the National Archives. He found records for minor party tickets that polled as few votes as 72 votes in the entire nation. That was the national vote total for Gerrit Smith, the 1852 presidential nominee of the Liberty Party. But he found no votes for an Equal Rights ticket in either the 1870’s or the 1880’s. Other researchers came to the same conclusion.

California Senate Passes Public Funding Pilot Project Bill

August 30th, 2008

On August 29, the California Senate passed AB 583, which sets up a pilot program for public funding. Specifically, it provides that in 2014, candidates for Secretary of State could receive public funding. Democrats and Republicans would need qualifying contributions from 7,500 people; independent candidates would need such contributions from 15,000 people. The bill is probably unconstitutional on that score, under this year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision Davis v Federal Election Commission.

AB 583 must now return to the Assembly, since the Senate version provides that funding for the program be from state income taxpayer voluntary check-offs (which would add to the taxpayers’ bill), whereas the Assembly had a different funding scheme. AB 583 passed the Senate 21-18. It needed 21 votes in order to pass.

Little-Known Independent Presidential Candidate Likely to Qualify in Ohio

August 29th, 2008

Richard A. Duncan of Aurora, Ohio, has probably successfully petitioned for a spot on the Ohio ballot as an independent presidential candidate. He submitted over 13,000 signatures to meet the 5,000-signature requirement. His vice-presidential candidate is Robert Culbertson. This ticket filed for write-in status in 2004 in Ohio, but was only credited with 17 write-ins. It is believed that Duncan owns and operates a tavern. Thanks to Nathan Stine for this news.

Federal Judge Refuses to Adjudicate Herb Hoffman Case

August 29th, 2008

On August 29, a federal court in Maine ruled that since Herb Hoffman had lost in the Maine state courts, he cannot now go to federal court. So injunctive relief was denied. The federal case is Hoffman v Dunlap, 08-cv-279. Hoffman is an independent candidate for U.S. Senate whose petition was signed by more than 4,000 validly registered voters (the requirement is 4,000 signatures). But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court had eliminated all the signatures on three pages, because three voters who signed the petition said Hoffman wasn’t watching when they signed. Hoffman didn’t need those three signatures, but he didn’t have enough signatures when the three entire sheets were eliminated.

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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!

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  • 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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