9th Circuit Says Montana Campaign Finance Law is Being Enforced Too Strictly

February 26th, 2009

On February 26, the 9th circuit reversed a lower court, and said it is not reasonable for Montana Campaign Finance enforcement agencies to try to force a particular church to register as an Ïncidental Political Committee, and then to begin disclosing information about its finances. In 2004 the church had heard a speaker who advocated support for a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage. Also, the church had let its photocopy machine be used to make fliers about the event, and about the church’s position. However, the person who made the copies furnished the paper herself.

The 9th circuit didn’t hold the Montana campaign finance law unconstitutional. The Court just said that de minimis activities cannot be used to trigger the Campaign Finance reporting requirements. Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church of East Helena v Unsworth, 06-35883. Thanks to Rick Hasen for this news.



Watered-Down Ballot Access Reform Bill Advances in Oklahoma

February 26th, 2009

On February 26, the Oklahoma House Rules Committee passed HB 1072 by a vote of 10-2. The bill, as originally introduced, lowered the number of signatures for a previously unqualified party from 5% of the last vote cast, to 5,000. As amended, the bill keeps the 5% requirement, but bases it on the last gubernatorial vote. Thus, there would be no change in the law in presidential election years. However, in midterm years, the requirement would be just as low as it is already in presidential years. In 2010 the requirement would drop from approximately 73,000 signatures to approximately 46,000.

Although this bill may seem woefully inadequate for solving Oklahoma’s ballot access problems, it is encouraging that a bill making some improvement did make some headway. Ever since the legislature in 1974 replaced the old 5,000-signature petition with a 5% petition, Oklahoma has never voluntarily eased ballot access unless a court ruling forced a change (for example, in 1984 a court invalidated the 90-day period for completing that petition, so the legislature expanded it to one year). If this bill passes, it will be historic.

Arkansas House Passes National Popular Vote Bill

February 25th, 2009

On February 25, the Arkansas House passed HB 1339, the bill to provide for the National Popular Vote Plan pact for electing the president. The vote was 56-43. Richard Carroll, the Green Party representative, voted “Yes”. Now the bill goes to the Senate.

New York Bill to Require New York City Popular Vote on Term Limits Advances

February 25th, 2009

On February 25, the New York State Assembly Election Law Assembly passed A1224. If it is signed into law, it would require New York city voters to vote in May 2009 on whether they approve of abolishing term limits for the city’s Mayor, city councilmembers, and the other two citywide executive elected posts. The chief sponsor is Assemblymember Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn). The Senate has an identical bill, S1536, whose chief sponsor is Senator Kevin Parker (D-Brooklyn).

U.S. House Also Working on Bill for a D.C. Voting Representative

February 25th, 2009

The U.S. Senate isn’t the only branch of Congress that is working on a bill to give the District of Columbia a voting member of the U.S. House. The U.S. House is also working on the idea. The bill in the U.S. House is HR 157. The House Judiciary Committee is hearing the bill on the afternoon of February 25, and the House expects to take up the bill the first week in March. See this article.

Virginia Bill, Requiring National Convention Certification by Late August, Passes Legislature

February 25th, 2009

On February 24, the Virginia legislature passed SB 1155. It restores Virginia’s old deadline for qualified parties to certify the names of the presidential and vice-presidential nominees, to 74 days before the general election. That deadline had been suspended by the legislature to accomodate late major party national conventions in 2004 and 2008. Assuming this bill will be signed, the major parties will no longer be able to hold national conventions in September if they want their nominees on the Virginia ballot.

Wyoming Bill to Rein in Late Presidential Conventions is Signed into Law

February 25th, 2009

On February 23, Wyoming HB 76 was signed into law by Governor Dave Freudenthal. Among other things, it says that if any qualified party fails to certify the names of its presidential and vice-presidential nominees by 60 days before the general election, the state will not print those nominees on the ballot. Instead it would just print, for example, “Republican nominees for president and vice-president”.

This is the first time any state has ever said “No” to the major parties, on this issue. Generally the major parties choose their convention dates and then ask the state legislatures to relax the deadlines if those national conventions are quite late. The states always either accede, or else ignore their own legal deadlines and accomodate the major parties anyway.

South Dakota Bill to Move Independent Deadline from June to April is Defeated in Senate Committee

February 25th, 2009

On February 25, the South Dakota Senate Local Government Committee refused to pass HB 1234, the bill to move the non-presidential independent petition deadline from June to April. This outcome is due to the persuasive ability of Chris Nelson, Secretary of State. He opposed the bill.

Iowa National Popular Vote Bill Advances

February 25th, 2009

On February 23, the Iowa Senate State Government Committee passed SF 227. It is the National Popular Vote Plan bill. The vote was 8-7.

Maryland Hearing on Bill to Require Petition Signers to Show ID

February 24th, 2009

The Maryland Senate Committee on Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs holds a hearing on SB 445 on Thursday, February 26, at 1 p.m. This is the bill to require petition signers to show photo ID to the circulator before signing the 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!

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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.