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April 27th, 2009
Nevada SB 212 would require statewide initiative petitions to obtain the signatures of 10% of the last vote cast in each one of Nevada’s 42 Assembly districts. If an initiative petition got enough signatures statewide, and got the required 10% in 41 Assembly districts, yet lacked enough signatures in just one Assembly district, then the entire petition would be invalid.
SB 212 passed the Senate Legislative Operations & Elections Committee on April 9, and is now in the Senate Finance Committee.
April 27th, 2009
Congressman Ron Paul recently donated $500 to the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE). This is the largest donation COFOE has ever received in its 24 years of existence. COFOE is a loose coalition of the nation’s nationally-organized minor parties, and also of other organizations that support efforts to ease ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates, and to improve candidate debate inclusion.
The donation may make it possible to go ahead with the long-delayed lawsuit against the District of Columbia for refusing to tally write-in votes for declared presidential candidates.
Anyone who donates $25 to COFOE per year receives a free copy of the printed Ballot Access News. If you wish to join, use this address: PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147.
April 27th, 2009
Arizona is in the position of not having a valid petition deadline for independent candidates, since the law was declared unconstitutional last year. The Secretary of State will ask the legislature to set the new deadline in mid or late August. However, there is some concern that the legislature won’t pass any ordinary bills at all this year, since the budget is consuming the legislature’s attention.
April 27th, 2009
According to this news story, the Majority Leader of the Florida House says the legislature will not have time to consider the omnibus election law bills, HB 497 and S 956. Those identical bills, 81 pages long, included a ban on paying initiative petitioners per signature.
This year, activists have had good success stopping bills to make ballot access more difficult. So far, bills to restrict circulators have either died, or failed to make much headway so far, in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, and Virginia. Also, the only states that considered making an independent candidate or minor party petition deadline worse (South Dakota and Texas) did not do so, and an early petition deadline bill in Missouri has not moved.
April 26th, 2009
On Sunday, April 26, the New Jersey Libertarian Party nominated Ken Kaplan for Governor. Kaplan had also run for that position as a Libertarian in 1993.
April 26th, 2009
Tennessee has County Election Commissions in every county, which consist of 5 members. Three members are supposed to be members of the party that has a majority in the State House of Representatives, and two are supposed to be members of parties that have members in the House but which are in the minority. Last November, Republicans gained a majority in the State House for the first time, so the counties are in the process of replacing Democratic election administrators with Republican administrators. Here in an article from the Greeneville Sun of April 26, on how the process worked in Greene County.
April 25th, 2009
Last year, a Minnesota convict, Leonard Richards, won declaratory relief in Minnesota state court that he should have been allowed to file for the Democratic nomination for U.S. House in 2006. The U.S. Constitution protects the right of anyone to run for Congress who meets the Constitutional qualifications, yet Richards had not been allowed to run because prison officials had refused to deliver the declaration of candidacy forms. This story had been covered in the March 1, 2008 printed Ballot Access News.
Now, Richards has been awarded his court costs, since he was the prevailing party. On March 16, the Minnesota District Court, Rice County, awarded Richards $265 to compensate him for the money he spent filing the lawsuit and serving the opposition. Richards v Ritchie, 66-cv-06-1517.
April 24th, 2009
Illinois HB 723 passed the House on April 2. It makes it more difficult for qualified parties to nominate candidates. Current Illinois law lets qualified parties choose someone by committee, if no one ran in that party’s primary for that particular office. The bill says committees can only nominate candidates after the primary if that candidate submits a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast for that office in the general election (or 25,000 signatures, whichever is less).
The bill will be heard in the Senate Elections Committee on April 28 at 1 p.m. in room 400 of the Capitol.
April 24th, 2009
On April 22, the South Carolina House Judiciary Committee passed HB 3746, which would make it harder for independent candidates to get on the ballot. It would not let primary voters sign for an independent candidate; it would not let newly-registered voters sign for an independent candidate; and it would require independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy in February of election years.
The U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a 3-judge federal court decision from New York in 1970, striking down a law that newly-registered voters couldn’t sign for independent candidates. And the 4th circuit (which includes South Carolina) struck down a February deadline for independent candidates to file a declaration of candidacy back in 1990, in Cromer v State, 917 F 2d 819. As to the restriction on primary signers signing for an independent, that would probably be held unconstitutional also. The U.S. Supreme Court has said that ballot access laws that are so difficult that they almost never get used, are probably unconstitutional. South Carolina has never had an independent candidate for U.S. House or U.S. Senate on a government-printed ballot. The state requires 10,000 signatures for an independent candidate for U.S. House.
The sponsor of HB 3746 is Rep. Alan Clemmons (R-Myrtle Beach). An identical bill, SB 590, is pending in the Senate.
April 24th, 2009
The San Francisco Examiner of April 24 says that Georges Marciano, who announced on April 10 that he would be an independent candidate for Governor in 2010, owes the state $1,750,986 in back taxes. See this story.
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Welcome
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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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Issues
available: |
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2012:
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2011:
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2010:
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2009:
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2008:
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2007:
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2006:
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2005:
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2004:
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2003:
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2002:
- December
2002 Issue
(V:18– N:8)
- November
2002 Issue
(V:18– N:7)
- October
1, 2002 Issue (V:18 – N:6)
- September
1, 2002 Issue
(V:18 – N:5)
- August
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:4)
- July
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:3)
- June
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:2)
- May
1, 2002 issue (V:18 – N:1)
- April
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:13)
- March
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:12)
- February
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:11)
- January
1, 2002 issue (V:17 – N:10)
|
2001:
- December
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:9)
- November
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:8)
- October
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:7)
- September
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:6)
- August
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:5)
- July
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:4)
- June
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:3)
- May
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:2)
- April
1, 2001 issue (V:17 – N:1)
- March
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:12)
- February
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:11)
- January
1, 2001 issue (V:16 – N:10)
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2000:
- December
5, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:9)
- November
16, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:8)
- October
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:7)
- September
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:6)
- August
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:5)
- July
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:4)
- June
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:3)
- May
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:2)
- April
1, 2000 issue (V:16 – N:1)
- March
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:12)
- February
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:11)
- January
1, 2000 issue (V:15 – N:10)
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1999:
- December
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:9)
- November
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:8)
- October
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:7)
- September
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:6)
- August
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:5)
- July
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:4)
- June
1, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:3)
- May
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:2)
- April
3, 1999 issue (V:15 – N:1)
- March
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:12)
- February
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:11)
- January
6, 1999 issue (V:14 – N:10)
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1998:
- December
8, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:9)
- November
8, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:8)
- October
4, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:7)
- September
4, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:6)
- August
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:5)
- July
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:4)
- June
3, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:3)
- May
7, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:2)
- April
5, 1998 issue (V:14 – N:1)
- March
8, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:12)
- February
8, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:11)
- January
5, 1998 issue (V:13 – N:10)
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1997:
- December
5, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:9)
- November
1, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:8)
- October
6, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:7)
- September
6, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:6)
- August
4, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:5)
- July
2, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:4)
BAN.
changed to a 12 issue per year schedule.
- June
2, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:3)
- May
5, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:2)
- April
7, 1997 issue (V:13 – N:1)
- March
10, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:13)
- February
10, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:12)
- January
12, 1997 issue (V:12 – N:11)
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1996:
- December
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:10)
- November
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:9)
- October
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:8)
- September
9, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:7)
- August
12, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:6)
- July
20, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:5)
- June
26, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:4)
- May
28, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:3)
- May
3, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:2)
- April
3, 1996 issue (V:12 – N:1)
- March
6, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:13)
- February
7, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:12)
- January
14, 1996 issue (V:11 – N:11)
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1995:
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1994:
- December
15, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:10)
- November
15, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:9)
- October
18 1994 issue (V:10 – N:8)
- September
20, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:7)
- August
23, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:6)
- July
26, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:5)
- June
28, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:4)
- May
31, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:3)
- May
3, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:2)
- April
5, 1994 issue (V:10 – N:1)
- March
8, 1994 issue (V:9 – N:13)
- February
8, 1994 issue
(V:9 – N:12)
- January
11, 1994
issue (V:9 – N:11)
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1993:
- December
12, 1993 (V:9 – N:10)
- November
14, 1993 (V:9 – N:9)
- October
17, 1993 (V:9 – N:8)
- September
19, 1993 (V:9 – N:7)
- August
22, 1993 (V:9 – N:6)
- July
25, 1993 (V:9 – N:5)
- June
27, 1993
(V:9 – N:4)
- May
30, 1993 (V:9 – N:3)
- May
3, 1993 (V:9 – N:2)
- April
5, 1993 (V:9 – N:1)
- March
8, 1993 (V:8 – N:13)
- February
8, 1993 (V:8 – N:12)
- January
8, 1993 (V:8 – N:11)
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1992:
- December
10, 1992
(V:8 – N:10)
- November
6, 1992 (V:8 – N:9)
- October
5, 1992
(V:8 – N:8)
- September
9, 1992 (V:8 – N:7)
- August
13, 1992
(V:8 – N:6)
- July
17, 1992
(V:8 – N:5)
- June
15, 1992 (V:8 – N:4)
- May
24, 1992
(V:8 – N:3)
- April
27, 1992 (V:8 – N:2)
- March
30, 1992
(V:8 – N:1)
- March
1, 1992
(V:7 – N:13)
- February
2, 1992
(V:7 – N:12)
- January
2, 1992 (V:7 – N:11)
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1991:
- December
9, 1991
(V:7 – N:10)
- November
11, 1991 (V:7 – N:9)
- October
14, 1991 (V:7 – N:8)
- September
16, 1991 (V:7 – N:7)
- August
19, 1991 (V:7 – N:6)
- July
22, 1991 (V:7 – N:5)
- June
24, 1991 (V:7 – N:4)
- May
30, 1991 (V:7 – N:3)
- May
1, 1991 (V:7 – N:2)
- April
3, 1991 (V:7 – N:1)
- March
7, 1991 (V:6 – N:12)
- February
9, 1991 (V:6 – N:11)
- January
14, 1991 (V:6 – N:10)
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1990:
- December
14, 1990 (V:6 – N:9)
- November
12, 1990 (V:6 – N:8)
- October
9, 1990 (V:6 – N:7)
- September
11, 1990
(V:6 – N:6)
- August
14, 1990
(V:6 – N:5)
- July
18, 1990 (V:6 – N:4)
- June
26, 1990
(V:6 – N:3)
- May
24, 1990 (V:6 – N:2)
- April
28, 1990
(V:6 – N:1)
- April
2, 1990
(V:5 – N:12)
- March
12, 1990 (V:5 – N:11)
- February
12, 1990 (V:5 – N:10)
- January
23, 1990 (V:5 – N:9)
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1989:
- December
24, 1989 (V:5 – N:8)
- November
27, 1989 (V:5 – N:7)
- October
30, 1989 (V:5 – N:6)
- September
26, 1989 (V:5 – N:5)
- September
5, 1989 (V:5 – N:4)
- August
4, 1989 (V:5 – N:3)
- July
7, 1989 (V:5 – N:2)
- June
9, 1989 (V:5 – N:1)
- May
12, 1989 (V:4 – N:12)
- April
14, 1989 (V:4 – N:11)
- March
22, 1989 (V:4 – N:10)
- February
27, 1989 (V:4 – N:9)
- February
1, 1989 (V:4 – N:8)
- January
1, 1989 (V:4 – N:7)
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1988:
- November
1, 1988 (V:4 – N:6)
- October
12, 1988 (V:4 – N:5)
- September
16, 1988 (V:4 – N:4)
- August
27, 1988 (V:4 – N:3)
- August
1, 1988 (V:4 – N:2)
- July
8, 1988 (V:4 – N:1)
- June
15, 1988 (V:3– N:12)
- May
23, 1988 (V:3– N:11)
- April
19, 1988 (V:3– N:10)
- March
23, 1988 (V:3– N:9)
- February
24, 1988 (V:3– N:8)
- January
20, 1988 (V:3– N:7)
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1987:
- December
23, 1987 (V:3– N:6)
- November
19, 1987 (V:3– N:5)
- October
19, 1987 (V:3– N:4)
- September
21, 1987 (V:3– N:3)
- August
20, 1987 (V:3– N:2)
- July
14, 1987 (V:3– N:1)
- June
13, 1987 (V:2– N:12)
- May
18, 1987 (V:2– N:11)
- April
20, 1987 (V:2– N:10)
- March
13, 1987 (V:2– N:9)
- February
21, 1987 (V:2– N:8)
- January
21, 1987 (V:2– N:7)
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Additional
articles/essays:
- 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. |
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