Nevada Senate Passes Bill to Require Initiatives to Get Signatures in All U.S. House Districts

May 31st, 2009

On May 31, Sunday, the Nevada Senate passed SB 212 by a vote of 20-1. It requires initiative petitions to include a substantial number of signatures from each of the 3 U.S. House districts. The bill also says that after 2011, the legislature must revisit the issue.

The one “No” vote was from Senator Terry Care (D-Las Vegas).



Nevada Legislature May Create Congressional District Distribution Requirement for Initiatives

May 30th, 2009

On Saturday, May 30, the Nevada Senate Finance Committee amended SB 212, so that if the bill becomes law, initiatives would need a substantial number of signatures from each of Nevada’s three U.S. House districts. This is a far less restrictive idea than the original bill, which required a substantial number of signatures in each of Nevada’s 42 Assembly districts for a statewide initiative petition. See this article, which mistakenly says Nevada has 4 U.S. House districts.

Prohibition Party Sets National Committee Meeting

May 30th, 2009

The Prohibition Party holds a national committee meeting in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 17-18. Speakers include Rev. Dr. John Killian, and also History Professor J. David Gillespie, author of “Politics at the Periphery.” The meeting is at Barton-First Southern Methodist Church, 2869 Mendenhall Road.

League of Women Voters Finds No Internal Consensus on National Popular Vote Plan

May 30th, 2009

The League of Women Voters finished studying the National Popular Vote Plan at the end of April, 2009, but was unable to come to a consensus on whether to support it.

Baton Rouge Newspaper Story on Defeat of Bill to Deprive Small Parties of a Primary

May 30th, 2009

The May 28 issue of the Advocate, Baton Rouge’s daily newspaper, has this story about the defeat of HB 776, which would have eliminated the congressional primary for small qualified parties and left them with no means to nominate. The story focuses its attention on fears that the bill was really a “trojan horse” bill that would later be amended to eliminate partisan primaries for Congress and return Louisiana to a “top-two” system for congressional elections.

The story, and these fears, seem to have no foundation in fact. Secretary of State Jay Dardenne has been a supporter of partisan primaries for congressional elections. He would have no motive to initiative a bill that would be a vehicle for ending Louisiana’s partisan primaries for Congress. Furthermore, he pledged to the legislative committee that if HB 776 did get amended to abolish partisan primaries, he and the bill’s sponsor would then withdraw the bill. The basis for the suspicions appears to be the fact that Secretary Dardenne is thought to be planning to run for U.S. Senate in 2010 against Republican incumbent David Vitter, and some people believe Dardenne would have a better chance in a “top-two” primary than in the existing system. Thanks to The Hankster for the link.

Peace & Freedom Party Plans National Organizing Conference

May 30th, 2009

The Peace & Freedom Party is hosting a Conference in San Francisco on Saturday, August 1, to advance its hopes of building a nationwide political party. The conference is at the State Building at 455 Golden Gate Ave. See here for more information.

Maine House Passes Bill to Shrink Itself

May 29th, 2009

On May 29, the Maine House passed LD 144. This bill shrinks the size of the House from 151 members to 131 members.

Rhode Island Ballot Access Victory

May 29th, 2009

On May 29, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled that Rhode Island may not prevent a group from starting to circulate its petition for qualified party status in an odd year. Rhode Island provides that a group that wants to become a qualified party in advance of any particular election must submit a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast. Furthermore, Rhode Island law makes it illegal to start circulating such a petition until January 1 of an even year.

The case is Block v Mollis, 09-47. The 27-page decision upholds the number of signatures. The case had been filed by the Moderate Party, which only exists in Rhode Island. See this Providence Journal news story about the decision.

This decision is the first constitutional ballot access victory in calendar year 2009 so far, and only the second decision to strike down a “start date” for petitions to create a ballot-qualified party. The first such decision had been won in U.S. District Court in Arkansas in 2001.

Nevada Governor Signs Bill Moving Primary from August to June

May 29th, 2009

On May 28, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons signed SB 162, which moves the primary from August to June. The bill also moves petition deadlines for non-presidential independent candidates to February, which is likely unconstitutional. Also it requires qualified minor parties to nominate their candidates no later than March, two months before the major parties choose their nominees.

Tennessee Legislature Passes Bill to Give Republicans a Majority on State Election Commission

May 29th, 2009

On May 28, the Tennessee House passed SB 547, which provides that two new members should be added to the State Election Commission. The purpose of this bill is to give the Republicans a majority on that body. Although the law already says that the party with a majority in the State House should have a majority on the Commission, implementing this provision turned out to be impossible, without enlarging the Commission.

The Republicans got a majority in the State House in the 2008 election, for the first time in history. There had been a tie in the past, but never a Republican majority.

The bill is still not fully through the legislature, since it needs to go to a conference committee.

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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.