New Hampshire 3-Way Senate, Gubernatorial Poll

October 31st, 2008

On October 31, SurveyUSA released a New Hampshire poll. For Governor, it shows: Lynch (Dem.) 65%, Kenney (Rep.) 28%, Newell (Libertarian) 5%, undecided 3%.

For U.S. Senator: Shaheen (Dem.) 53%, Sununu 40%, Blevens (Libertarian) 6%, undecided 2%.

The poll also asked about the presidential race, but only reported: Obama 53%, McCain 42%, “Other” 3%, undecided 2%. See here for more information, including an interesting breakdown of voters by age. If the Libertarian Party polls 4% for either Governor or U.S. Senator, it will regain its party status, which was lost in November 1996.



Utah Libertarians Win Last-Minute Ballot Access Case

October 31st, 2008

On October 31, a Utah state court ordered Libertarian Party nominee Mike Stoddard back onto the ballot for State Auditor. The case is Stoddard v Herbert, 3rd judicial district, 080923182.

Utah uses DRE vote-casting machines, so there is no problem with printing ballots; a candidate can be deleted or added to the ballot by a manipulation of the computer program. Of course, absentee mail voters use a paper ballot, but here again there was no problem, because the absentee ballots had been printed with Stoddard’s name on them. If he had not won the case, though, absentee voters who voted for him would have not had their votes counted.

Stoddard had been removed from the ballot on October 28 because he didn’t file a final campaign finance report. But he immediately filed the report, and then won the lawsuit on the basis that the law, although ambiguous, seems to say that when candidates file late, they should not be stricken from the ballot. Thanks to Rob Latham for this news.

Compendium of Current Lawsuits Over Challenges to Voters

October 31st, 2008

Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University has this handy, neutral chart of lawsuits pending over how and whether voters at the polls should be challenged.

Minor Party Presidential Candidates May Alter Outcome in Louisiana

October 31st, 2008

On October 31, Louisiana TV station WWL-TV released a presidential poll. The results: McCain 43%, Obama 40%, other 3%, undecided/refused 15%. See here for more detail. The article does not mention the “other” figure, but if one clicks on the link inside the article, one goes to a page that does include it. Ron Paul is on the Louisiana ballot as the candidate of the Louisiana Taxpayers Party, which is just a ballot slogan, not an actual organization.

The Hazards of Getting a Write-in Vote for President Counted

October 31st, 2008

No group of voters (except for ex-felons and felons, and residents the District of Columbia, and of the U.S. territorial possessions) is treated worse than voters who cast a write-in vote for president, even if the presidential candidate has filed for write-in status.

States don’t tally any write-in votes for president until December, and sometimes January. Certain areas of the country illegally don’t count them at all. Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and the District of Columbia all refuse to provide a tally for the declared write-in candidates. In the case of the District of Columbia, this is especially egregious, since a D.C. court explicitly ordered such tallies for declared write-in presidential candidates, in 1975, in the aftermath of the Kamins v D.C. Board of Elections lawsuit. Also, in the case of Oregon, the State Supreme Court ruled in 1945 that the Oregon Constitution protects write-in votes.

New York city habitually fails to count any write-in votes for the declared write-in presidential candidates. The Board says it is too much work to take down the heavy rolls of paper from the mechanical voting machines and look at them. About 15 counties in Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, also regularly fail to tally any write-in votes at general elections. A proposed lawsuit to challenge this behavior in Pennsylvania has been talked about for almost two years now, but the attorneys still have not filed it.

Phil Berg Files Anti-Obama Case in Both the 3rd Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court

October 31st, 2008

On October 30, Philadelphia attorney Phil Berg filed his appeal in Berg v Obama in the 3rd circuit, case number 08-4340. That Court has not acted. Berg then filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, case number 08-570.

The U.S. Court of Appeals Clerk’s office is treating this case in an unusual manner. Normally, when one telephones the Clerk’s office and asks about the status of a case, someone in the clerical staff answers the question. In this particular case, the employees have been told not to release any information, without having the caller speak to one of the attorneys who works in the Clerk’s office.

The case concerns Berg’s assertions that Obama does not meet the constitutional qualifications to be president. The U.S. District Court had ruled earlier this month that Berg lacks standing.

CBS/NY Times Presidential Poll

October 30th, 2008

On October 30, a presidential poll paid for by CBS and the New York Times was released. It shows Obama 52%, McCain 41%, undecided 5%, and other 2%. The poll did not ask voters about any presidential candidates other than Obama and McCain; people had to volunteer anyone else. For more details, see here. UPDATE: apparently the poll did mention Nader and Barr; see Art’s comment.

Greens Hope to Elect Up to Four State Legislators

October 30th, 2008

The national Green Party hopes to win up to four state house seats this year. In Arkansas, Richard Carroll is favored to win. In Minnesota, Farheen Hakeem is well-known in her district in Minneapolis and formerly polled 14% for Mayor (in 2005) and 33% for County Commissioner (in 2006).

In Arizona, Kent Solberg, running in Tucson, has qualified for public funding and has been endorsed by Tucson’s biggest daily newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star.

In Illinois, Ante Marijean has been endorsed by both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune.

How to Watch The Baldwin-Barr-Nader Debate

October 30th, 2008

The presidential debate being held in Cleveland on October 30 at 4:30 pm eastern time can be watched at this link, set up by the City Club. C-SPAN will film the debate and air it sometime over the next weekend.

Los Angeles City Council Will Study Instant-Runoff Voting

October 30th, 2008

On October 29, the Los Angeles City Council decided not to ask the voters (in the spring 2009 city election) if they want to use Instant-Runoff Voting for elections for city offices. Instead the Council created a working group to study how IRV could be implemented if it were approved. That study will probably take six months.

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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.