Connecticut Independent, Working Families Party get Press Attention for How they Used Public Funding

January 31st, 2009

Some Independent Party legislative candidates, and some Working Families Party legislative candidates, received public funding in 2008. This article in the AmericanRepublican newspaper details how the candidates used their public funds.



New Illinois Governor Wants to Move Primary from February to September

January 31st, 2009

Illinois’ new Governor, Pat Quinn, wants the legislature to move the 2010 primary from February to September. See this Chicago Tribune article.

One of the Cases over Timing of Florida Presidential Primary Loses on Procedural Issues

January 31st, 2009

On January 30, the 11th circuit ruled that the lawsuit DiMaio v Democratic National Committee, no. 08-13241, is moot. Victor DiMaio had sued the party over its 2008 convention rule that forbids presidential primaries earlier than February, with an exception for New Hampshire and South Carolina. The decision says that the Democratic National Committee hasn’t passed its rules for the 2012 primaries yet. The decision says that since the party presumably will do this in 2011, there will be time to re-litigate this in 2011 and 2012.

The other pending case over the timing of the Florida primaries is directed against the state, not against the Democratic Party. Since the Florida election law continues to say that presidential primaries are in January, presumably this other case is not in danger of being dismissed for mootness. That case is Ausman v Browning, still pending in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee.

Ken Blackwell Loses Bid to be Republican National Chair

January 30th, 2009

On January 30, the Republican National Committee chose Michael Steele of Maryland to be its new national chair. One of the other candidates for chair, Ken Blackwell, dropped out and endorsed Steele after placing last in the fourth ballot.

Blackwell, a former Ohio Secretary of State, behaved with hostility toward minor parties and independent candidates while he was Secretary of State in 2003 and 2004. In late 2003, he rejected the Ohio Libertarian Party’s petition because the wording on the petition changed while the party was conducting its petition. When the party started its petition, the petition was supposed to say, “The penalty for election falsification is imprisonment for not more than 6 months or a fine of not more than $1,000 or both.” During the drive, the state changed the petition so that it said instead, “Whoever commits election falsification is guilty of a felony of the 5th degree.” The party didn’t know about the wording change, and was shocked when it submitted the petition and Blackwell rejected it because of the wording.

In 2004, Blackwell rejected Ralph Nader’s independent petition because most of the signatures had been collected by people that perhaps were domiciled outside Ohio (although this was never resolved). At approximately the same time Blackwell rejected Nader’s petition, he waived the rules to allow an initiative petition to appear on the ballot even though its circulators had not been domiciled in Ohio.

Blackwell’s behavior kept Nader off the 2004 ballot, and kept the Libertarian Party off the 2004 ballot (although it qualified its presidential candidate as an independent). However, after the 2004 election was over, courts struck down the Ohio procedure for new parties to qualify, and struck down the Ohio law barring out-of-state circulators from working on an independent candidate petition, so Blackwell’s behavior was ultimately good for ballot access.

Another Arkansas Ballot Access Improvement Bill

January 30th, 2009

There are two bills pending in the Arkansas legislature to ease ballot access. Besides the one mentioned yesterday (HB 1247, to make it easier for a party to remain on the ballot), HB 1246 is also pending. It increases the period for circulating a new party petition, from any 60 consecutive days the party chooses, to any 90 days.

Arizona Improved New Party Ballot Access in 2006

January 30th, 2009

Ballot Access News just learned that in 2006, the Arizona legislature decreased the number of signatures required for a new party to get on the ballot in mid-term years. The law before 2006 required a petition of 1.33% of the last vote cast. There are always many more votes cast in presidential years than mid-term years, so this meant that approximately 20,000 signatures were required in presidential years, but 30,000 in midterm years.

Senator Karen Johnson had introduced a bill in 2006 to say the new party petition needs 1.33% of the last gubernatorial vote (so the higher presidential vote would never enter into the calculation). However, her bill failed to pass. But, apparently, another legislator picked up that aspect of the Johnson bill and put it into an omnibus election law bill, and that bill was signed into law. So, the petition for new parties in 2010 will be 20,499 signatures, not 30,480 signatures. Thanks to the Constitution Party of Arizona for making B.A.N. aware of the change.

Arkansas Times Feature Story on Richard Carroll, Green Party Legislator

January 30th, 2009

The January 29 edition of the Arkansas Times has this intriguing story about Richard Carroll, the Green Party’s only current state legislator. He works the night shift at his locomotive repair job, so that he can attend the legislative session during the day.

Op-Ed for IRV in Minnesota College Newspaper

January 30th, 2009

The January 30 issue of the Concordian, student newspaper for Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, has this op-ed in favor of Instant Runoff Voting for Minnesota. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Christian Science Monitor Op-Ed in Favor of Elected U.S. Attorney General

January 29th, 2009

The Christian Science Monitor has this op-ed in its January 30 edition. It advocates that the voters of the United States directly elect the Attorney General.

Arkansas Bill to Move All Primaries to August

January 29th, 2009

Arkansas Senator Steve Faris (D-Malvern) has introduced SB 253, to move the primary (for president and all other office) to the 2nd Tuesday in August. Currently the presidential primary is in February and the primary for other office is in May, although the House has already passed a bill to put both in May.

It is quite unusual that any state legislator would propose a presidential primary in August. No state has ever held such a late presidential primary.

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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]

The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.