Preliminary U.S. Senate Vote on D.C. Voting Rep in the House

February 24th, 2009

On February 24, as expected, the U.S. Senate voted to end the filibuster against S.160, the bill to give the District of Columbia a voting representative in the U.S. House. The vote was 62-34. Although technically this is not a vote to pass the bill, when Senators vote to end a filibuster on a bill, that generally means they support that bill. The formal vote on the bill itself will later this week. Thanks to Mark Scarberry for the news.



Update on Minnesota Trial on U.S. Senate Vote Count

February 24th, 2009

Minnesota National Public Radio has this progress report on the trial of whether the state’s recount in the U.S. Senate race should be overturned or not. The trial is starting its second month.

Indiana Senate Passes Resolution on Presidential Primary Date

February 24th, 2009

On February 23, the Indiana Senate passed SCR 28, which sets up a legislative study of whether Indiana should move its presidential primary from May to an earlier month. The measure now goes to the House.

Tony Mauro Analysis of How Gun Rights Case May Strengthen Entire Bill of Rights

February 24th, 2009

The February 24 issue of Legal Times has this interesting article by Tony Mauro, on how a pending 2nd amendment case, McDonald v Chicago, might strengthen the entire Bill of Rights, by settling that the entire Bill of Rights restricts state governments. As the article explains, the current state of the law has a piecemeal application of whether various freedoms in the Bill of Rights apply to state government or not.

New York Court Adds Candidate to Ballot on Day Before Election

February 24th, 2009

On February 23, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, restored John Tabacco to the ballot, in the special election to fill the vacant city council seat, 49th district (Staten Island). The election is February 24.

As a result, the election will be by paper ballot in that district. Tabacco had originally been removed from the ballot because he had chosen a star for his ballot logo (a logo is a simple drawing, on ballots in New York and a few other states because of the desire to help voters who can’t read). The New York law for special elections in New York city council says that candidates must choose a label that doesn’t resemble the name of a qualified party. The Board of Elections in Tabacco’s case had removed him because his logo, the star, is similar to the Democratic Party’s logo in regular elections. But the courts had then ruled in favor of Tabacco, saying that although candidates can’t use the name of a qualified party, the law doesn’t say they can’t use the logo of a qualified party. Then Tabacco had been challenged again on the grounds that he didn’t have enough signatures, and the Supreme Court, trial division, had removed him from the ballot again. But the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court put him back on again, on February 23, because it said the lower court was wrong to consider the issue of how many valid signatures he had; that should have been raised earlier. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

Ironically, although Tabacco used the Democratic Party’s logo, he is not a registered Democrat. He is registered in the Independence Party. The 49th district race now has six candidates on the ballot, four of whom are registered Democrats and two of whom are registered in the Independence Party. The other candidate registered in the Independence Party is Paul Saryian. The four Democrats are Deborah Rose, Donald Pagano, Tony Baker, and Ken Mitchell.

Oklahoma House Rules Committee May Act on Ballot Access

February 24th, 2009

The Oklahoma House Rules Committee is currently thinking about Representative Charles Key’s HB 1072. That bill lowers the petition for new and previously unqualified parties from 5% of the last vote cast, to 5,000 signatures.

Key has been told informally that if he amends the bill to require a petition of 5% of the last gubernatorial vote, his bill will pass the Rules Committee. That would mean the bill caused no improvement in presidential election years, but at least it would substantially improve the requirement in mid-term years (so that the 2010 requirement would be 46,324 signatures instead of 73,134 signatures).

Ironically, even if the proposed bill passed, Oklahoma would still be the only state in the nation with a mandatory petition procedure for a new party to place its nominees on the November ballot with a party label, in excess of 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. Although there are 5% petition procedures for a fully-qualified party in Maine, Minnesota, and Rhode Island, the Maine, Minnesota and Rhode Island 5% procedures are not mandatory; groups can appear on the November ballot with their party label next to their nominees in those three states, with much easier alternate procedures. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for this news.

Oklahoma Bill to Ease Initiative Ballot Access Has Hearing February 25

February 23rd, 2009

Oklahoma HB 2246, making it easier to get initiatives on the ballot, will be heard in the House Rules Committee on Wednesday, February 25, at 3 p.m. HB 2246 is the same as SB 852. SB 852 passed the Senate Rules Committee on February 17. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for this news.

U.S. Senate Debates D.C. Seat in U.S. House

February 23rd, 2009

On Monday afternoon, February 23, the U.S. Senate began debate on S.160, the bill to give the District of Columbia a voting member of the U.S. House. If the expected schedule prevails, the Senate will vote at 11 a.m. Tuesday, February 24, on whether to end debate. The bill expands the size of the House permanently, from 435 to 437 seats. If it passes, Utah would also gain a seat between now and 2011. The bill requires Utah to redistrict itself into 4 districts.

South Dakota Hearing on Bill to Move Independent Deadline to April

February 23rd, 2009

The South Dakota Senate Local Government Committee holds a hearing on Wednesday, February 25, on HB 1234, the bill that moves the independent candidate petition deadline (for office other than president) from June to April. The hearing is at 10 a.m. in Room 423.

Washington Bill for Internet Voting for Overseas Voters Advances

February 22nd, 2009

On February 12, the Washington State Committee on State Government & Tribal Affairs passed HB 1624, to establish internet voting for military and overseas voters. It now goes to the Appropriations Committee, where it will be heard on February 25. The bill has opposition from people who worry that the procedure isn’t safe; the normal state law mandating a paper trail is waived for this type of voting. A companion bill in the Senate is SB 5522.

There are similar bills in the Alabama legislature, but they haven’t moved yet. They are SB 180 and HB 377. Also, there are bills to study voting by internet in Colorado (HB 1205), Hawaii (SB 631 and HB 468), Missouri (HB 613), Montana (SB 367), New Mexico (HB 487), Oregon (HB 2511), and Texas (HB 71 and SB 92). Virginia has HB 1881, to authorize sending the ballot overseas electronically but requiring that it be mailed postally back to the United States.

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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.