U.S. Court of Appeals Action on Stevo Case

August 29th, 2008

On August 29, a judge on the 7th circuit issued in order in Stevo v Keith, the Illinois independent candidate ballot access case for U.S. House elections. The judge asked attorneys for the state to tell him when ballots will be printed. It is encouraging that the 7th circuit is actively looking at the case.

The case challenges Illinois law, which requires exactly 5,000 signatures in years that end in “2″, but which requires approximately 10,000 signatures in other election law years.



Independent Candidate for U.S. House Sues Georgia

August 29th, 2008

On August 29, Faye Coffield, an independent candidate for U.S. House in Georgia’s 4th district, filed a ballot access case in federal court. Coffield v Handel, 1:08-cv-2755, northern district.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Georgia’s 5% (of the number of registered voters) petition requirement in 1971. However, at the time, the Court said that since a statewide petition had succeeded in both 1968 and 1970, the procedure couldn’t be that difficult. However, for U.S. House, no petitioning candidate has met the 5% requirement since 1964, when an independent did it. Back then, the petitions were due in October and weren’t checked. Also U.S. House boundaries did not split counties. It is always tough to get good petition validity when U.S. House districts are as complicated as they are in Georgia these days. Most voters don’t know which U.S. House district they live in, so the validity rate for such petitions is poor.

The U.S. Supreme Court said in 1974 that “there is no litmus test” to determine if a ballot access law is constitutional or not, but said one way to know is to see how often the law is used. Justice Scalia’s concurrence in Crawford v Marion County Election Board earlier this year again mentioned that 1974 test.

West Virginia Decision Delayed Until Next Week

August 29th, 2008

Although the Judge who is handling Bob Barr’s ballot access case had initially expected to rule by today, a flurry of post-hearing briefs has delayed the decision. It is expected next week.

Pennsylvania Constitution Party Files Ballot Access Lawsuit

August 29th, 2008

On August 29, the Pennsylvania Constitution Party asked a U.S. District Court to put its statewide nominees on the ballot. The party needed 24,666 signatures by August 1. It turned in about 23,000 on the deadline, and another 8,000 a few weeks later. Therefore, the party is asking the court to set aside the August 1 deadline. The case is Baldwin v Cortes, 08-1626.

The case is dependent on both Anderson v Celebrezze, and also on the point that the Pennsylvania deadline was never passed by the state legislature.

Ohio Constitution Party Asks Court to Put it on the Ballot

August 29th, 2008

On August 29, the Ohio Constitution Party amended its complaint, to ask that a federal court put it on the ballot for president and vice-president. The party already complied with the independent petition for president, so the only effect of this part of the lawsuit is that the state would print “Constitution Party” on the ballot next to Chuck Baldwin’s name, instead of “no-party candidate” or “other party candidate” or no label at all.

The Ohio Constitution Party had filed its original lawsuit on July 9, but the subject of the original complaint was to protect its candidate for Attorney General, Robert Owens, from being challenged. Owens had voted in the March Republican primary, and he was afraid his ballot status would be challenged because of that. But, as it turns out, no one ever challenged him, so the original case probably would have been dismissed, if it had not been amended to bring up the new issue of Baldwin’s ballot label.

The amended complaint also asks that the Ohio Secretary of State print “independent” next to Owens’ name on the ballot. He does not wish to have “Constitution Party” next to his name on the ballot. This part of the complaint is arguing that Ohio is obliged to print “independent” on the ballot for independent candidates. Ohio law says the label for candidates who use the independent procedure must be either no label, or “no-party candidate” or “other-party candidate.” But in the past, the Minnesota and Massachusetts Supreme Courts have both ruled that “independent” is such a unique generic word, that states cannot bar the use of the word on the ballot for independent candidates who wish that label.

Federal Court in Maine Hears Herb Hoffman Case

August 29th, 2008

On August 28, U.S. District Court Judge D. Brock Hornby held a hearing in Hoffman v Dunlap, no. 08-cv-279. The question is whether Hoffman, an independent candidate for U.S. Senate, should be on the ballot. Hoffman’s co-plaintiffs include 14 voters who signed his petition, including some voters whose signatures were stricken simply because they had signed the same sheet on which another voter had signed and then had said that Herb Hoffman had not been watching when that signature was placed on the petition. The Secretary of State, and a lower state court in Maine, had only invalidated the 3 signatures of the people who had signed and then said that Hoffman had not been watching them sign. But the Maine Supreme Judicial Court had invalidated all 90 signatures on the same 3 sheets, which put Hoffman below the required 4,000 signatures.

The federal case argues that the rights of the signers who signed the same sheets are being violated by an arbitrary disallowance of their signatures for no valid reason. The federal case also argues that the law on witnessing signatures is unconstitutionally vague. Judge Hornby said he will rule by close of business on Friday, August 29.

Texas State Court Issues Reform Party Ruling

August 29th, 2008

On August 26, a state court in Dallas, Texas, held a trial on the matter of the identity of the national Reform Party officers. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court ruled that the national Reform Party convention in Yuma, Arizona, in 2005, had not been properly called. The court also ruled that the July 18-19, 2008 national meeting had been a proper national convention. Therefore, the ruling recognizes David Collison of Houston, Texas, as the party’s national chair.

Georgia Independent Qualifies for State House After All

August 29th, 2008

On August 27, the Georgia Secretary of State acknowledged that Michelle Conlon does have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot as an independent candidate for the State House, district 80. The law requires a petition of 5% of the number of registered voters. In July, Conlon was told that she only had 976 valid signatures. Now, however, the state agrees that she has 1,075 valid signatures. The requirement in the 80th district is 1,027.

Conlon is backed by the state Democratic Party. The incumbent in this district, Mike Jacobs, had been elected as a Democrat in 2006, but he switched to the Republican Party in 2007. Democrats were naturally eager to win the seat back, but the candidate who had been expected to win the Democratic primary this year was disqualified because of evidence that he was not a resident of the district. Thus, if the independent petition had not succeeded, the voters would have been left with only one candidate on the November ballot. Thanks to Kyle Bennett for this news.

Nader Rally in Denver Attracts 4,000

August 28th, 2008

On August 27, Ralph Nader held a rally in the Magness Arena of the University of Denver. Approximately 4,000 were in the audience. Also speaking were Sean Penn, Rosa Clemente, and Cindy Sheehan. Here is a Colorado newspaper story about the rally.

Barr Ballot Access Hearing in Massachusetts Set for September 12

August 28th, 2008

A U.S. District Court in Massachusetts will hold a hearing in Barr v Galvin on September 12. The issue is whether the U.S. Constitution requires states to permit stand-ins for president and vice-president on petitions. Massachusetts permitted stand-ins in 1980, 1996, 2000 and 2004. Also Massachusetts told the Libertarian Party in 2007 that stand-ins are permitted. Therefore, a side issue, separate from the constitutional issue, is whether the state violates due process by changing its mind after it was virtually too late for the Libertarian Party to start an entirely new petition.

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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.