Connecticut House Passes Election-Day Registration Bill

May 27th, 2009

On May 26, the Connecticut House passed HB 6435, to let people register to vote at the polls on election day. Such voters would need to show a drivers license or a utility bill, confirming their address. Now the bill goes to the Senate.



Federal Court Upholds Georgia Ballot Access Law for Independent U.S. House Candidates

May 27th, 2009

On May 26, U.S. District Court Judge Robert L. Vining upheld Georgia’s ballot access law for independent candidates for U.S. House. Coffield v Handel, 1:08-cv-2755. The 3-page decision is here. It says that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the same law in 1971 in Jenness v Fortson.

The decision does not mention the fact that the law is so strict, no independent candidate for U.S. House has completed the 5% petition since 1964, and back then, all congressional districts fit within county boundaries, so it was much easier to get high validity rates for district petitions (signers generally know what county they live in, but not which congressional district they live in). The decision does not mention any other U.S. Supreme Court decision.

The decision does not acknowledge that the reason the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Georgia law in 1971 was that statewide 5% petitions had succeeded in Georgia in both 1966 and 1968. The decision does not mention three later U.S. Supreme Court decisions that say lower courts should invalidate ballot access requirements if the record shows that virtually no one ever meets those requirements. Faye Coffield will appeal to the 11th circuit.

Louisiana Legislative Committee Defeats Bill to Eliminate Primaries for Small Qualified Parties

May 27th, 2009

On May 27, Louisiana HB 776 was defeated in the House Committee on the House and Government Affairs, by a vote of 13-4. Thanks to Randall Hayes for this news. HB 776 would have eliminated congressional primaries for qualified parties with registration under 40,000 members.

The hearing lasted 90 minutes. Representatives of the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the NAACP, and the College Republicans, all testified against the bill.

Rebuttal Brief in Georgia Photo Voter-ID Case Filed with U.S. Supreme Court

May 27th, 2009

Here is the rebuttal brief of the NAACP (in the U.S. Supreme Court) in NAACP v Billups, 08-1231. The issue is the constitutionality of Georgia’s law requiring voters at the polls to show a goverment photo-ID card. This current round of briefs is to determine whether the Supreme Court will hear the case. Especially interesting is footnote 1, comparing the Georgia ID law with the Indiana ID law.

The Supreme Court will consider whether to hear this case at its June 4 conference.

Texas Bill, Relaxing Deadline for a Qualified Party to Certify Presidential Nominee, Passes Legislature

May 27th, 2009

Late on the evening of May 27, the Texas legislature passed HB 1193, which relaxes the deadline for qualified parties to certify the names of their presidential and vice-presidential nominees. The old deadline was not met by either the Democratic nor Republican Parties in 2008, but the Secretary of State placed their nominees on the November ballot anyway. HB 1193 sets the deadline as one business day after the national convention of any qualified party adjourns.

Maine Bill to Improve Write-in Voting Passes Legislature

May 27th, 2009

On May 26, Maine LD 1169 passed the legislature. Among other things, it includes these provisions to improve conditions for write-in candidates: (1) the names of all Declared write-in candidates will be posted at polling place locations; (2) voters no longer need to write-in the town or city of the candidate; (3) the form that the local elections officials fill out, listing how many votes were received in that precinct by each candidate, will include the names of the declared write-in candidates.

Herb Hoffman, independent candidate for U.S. Senate last year who was removed from the ballot and had to conduct a write-in campaign, deserves the credit for these provisions of the bill.

Arizona Secretary of State Interprets Nader v Brewer Narrowly

May 27th, 2009

The Arizona Secretary of State has submitted proposed election law changes to the legislature, including changes concerning the two issues won by Ralph Nader in the 9th circuit last year. The Secretary of State asks the legislature to move the independent presidential candidate petition deadline to only 60 days before the general election, but only for independent presidential candidates. Independent candidates for other office would still need to submit their signatures by early June.

Also, the Secretary of State proposed that only independent presidential petition drives be allowed to use out-of-state circulators. Independent candidates for office other than president, and initiatives, would still be required to use only in-state circulators. Since the state’s entire defense of the residency requirement was that out-of-staters cannot be located if they commit fraud, the Secretary of State’s proposal seems inconsistent. For independent presidential petitions, the proposed amendment says that out-of-staters must register with the Secretary of State before starting work.

Texas Legislature Does Not Pass Bill to Require Photo-ID for Voting at Polls

May 26th, 2009

According to this article of May 26, the Texas legislature will not pass any bill this year to require voters at the polls to show government photo-ID. The session is very close to adjourning. The bill is SB 362.

Oklahoma Governor Signs One Bill Easing Ballot Access for Initiatives

May 26th, 2009

On May 26, Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed SB 800, which lets people who plan to circulate an initiative submit a description of their initiative for public scrutiny before they gather the signatures. Anyone who wishes to challenge the initiative’s subject matter, or the description of the initiative that will appear on the petition, must challenge early in the process.

Still pending on the Governor’s desk is HB 2246, which expands the period for collecting signatures for initiatives from 90 days to one year.

Illinois Bill to Restrict Nominations Makes More Headway

May 26th, 2009

On May 26, the Illinois Senate Rules Committee passed HB 723, the bill to make it more difficult for ballot-qualified parties to nominate someone after the primary is over.

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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.