Oregon Bill Passes Legislature, Improves Ballot Access & Legalizes Fusion

June 29th, 2009

On June 29, the Oregon State Senate passed SB 326 again, by a vote of 25-5. It had passed once before but had to get another vote because the House had altered it. The bill is now through the legislature. It repeals the 2005 “primary screenout” and it also legalizes fusion.

A “primary screenout” is a law saying primary voters can’t sign for an independent candidate.

Assuming the Governor signs the bill, Oregon will be the second state to have expanded fusion in the last two years. Connecticut also expanded fusion recently. “Fusion” is the ability of two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate.



Nova Scotia Greens May Lose Public Funding for Ignoring Campaign Finance Deadline

June 29th, 2009

According to this story, the Nova Scotia Green Party may lose its public funding of $300,000 per year, because it seems to have missed a deadline to file a campaign finance report.

Bob Barr Has Op-Ed in Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Expansion of “Terrorist Watch List”

June 29th, 2009

Former Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr has this op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution of June 29, condeming a proposed expansion of the federal government’s terrorist “watch list”.

Las Vegas Review-Journal Features Wayne Allyn Root

June 29th, 2009

The Las Vegas Review-Journal political notebook of June 29 has a few paragraphs about Wayne Allyn Root. See here (scroll down). The piece mentions his upcoming book, “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution With God, Guns, Gambling and Tax Cuts.” It also quotes Root as saying he will be the first Nevadan as a Presidential candidate. Actually, 1992 Libertarian Party presidential nominee Andre Marrou was a residence of Nevada, although earlier he had been an Alaskan state legislator.

Supreme Court Wants Re-Argument in Campaign Finance Case

June 29th, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court released two opinions today, but the election law case was not decided. Citizens United v FEC will be re-argued on September 9, 2009. The Court wants both sides to argue whether the Court should overrule Austin v Michigan State Chamber of Commerce and McConnell v Federal Election Commission. Austin v Michigan State Chamber of Commerce was decided in 1990 and said that the federal government may prohibit corporations from using treasury funds to support or oppose candidates in elections. McConnell v Federal Election Commission was decided in 2003 and upheld a ban on corporations using treasury funds to pay for any broadcast ad that mentions a candidate for federal office within 60 days of an election.

Six Parties Have Candidates on Ballot in Virginia Legislative Races

June 29th, 2009

Virginia elects all 100 members of its House of Delegates on November 3, 2009. For the first time since Virginia started printing party labels on general election ballots (for office besides just president), six parties have candidates on the ballot for House of Delegates. The Independent Green Party has 7 nominees with the party label; the Constitution Party has 3; the Libertarian Party has 1; the Green Party has 1.

Both of Virginia’s independent House members are running for re-election. Lacey Putney has a Democratic and a Constitution Party opponent. Watkins Abbitt is unopposed. Thanks to Carey Campbell and Kimberly Wilder for telling me that the Virginia State Board of Elections had finally posted its list of candidates.

Republicans have nominees in 84 of the districts, and Democrats have 70 nominees. Therefore, there are 46 of the 100 districts with no Democrat-Republican contest. There are 16 independent candidates. According to the Independent Green Party, three of the candidates with “independent” as their label are really Independent Green Party members.

Virginia started printing party labels on general election ballots (for office other than president) in 2001.

New Jersey Gubernatorial Candidates Must Pick Running Mates by July 26

June 28th, 2009

On June 26, New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine signed A3902 into law. It alters election laws and campaign finance laws to take account of the fact that New Jersey is electing a Lieutenant Governor this year for the first time. Gubernatorial candidates choose their own Lieutenant Governor running mates, and each gubernatorial candidate must make that choice no later than July 26. The law requires the certification 30 days after the primary results were certified, and they were certified June 26.

The only two minor parties running gubernatorial candidates in New Jersey this year are the Libertarian and Socialist Parties.

Seattle Times Editorial Says Washington’s “Top-Two” Has Problems

June 28th, 2009

The June 23 issue of the Seattle Times has this editorial. The Times always has supported “top-two”, but this editorial admits the system has problems. The editorial was stimulated by Krist Novoselic’s earlier candidacy for County Clerk of Wahkiakum County with the “prefers Grange Party” label.

Portland Press Herald Analysis of Green Party on Portland, Maine City Council

June 28th, 2009

Portland, Maine, has a city council of 9 members, and 3 of them are Green Party members. The June 28 issue of Portland’s daily newspaper, the Press Herald, has this insightful article about how the Green members have affected city government. Thanks to Dan Jenkins for the link.

FairVote Points Out 50-Year Cycle for Major Changes in U.S. Elections

June 28th, 2009

A recent FairVote fund-raising letter points out that in U.S. history, major changes in elections occur every 50 years, at least since the period following the Civil War.

In the years 1868-1870, the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution were ratified. The 14th amendment is the closest the Constitution gets to including a right to vote, and the 15th amendment was the first amendment to the Constitution that expanded the franchise, regardless of the wishes of the individual states. It banned the denial of voting on the basis of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

The years 1913-1920 saw amendments to require the direct election of U.S. Senators, and to prevent states from denying voting on the basis of sex. That decade also saw the implementation of direct primaries in most states, although some states had started in the 1900′s decade.

The years 1965-1972 saw the federal Voting Rights Act (a tardy means of enforcing the 15th amendment), and U.S. Supreme Court decisions that said the 14th amendment does not permit the states to use unequal-population districts, does not permit the states to entirely prevent new political parties and independent candidates from getting on the ballot, and does not permit the states to prevent certain classes of people from voting (for example, people who move into a state fairly close to an election, or people who don’t own property).

If the 50-year cycle still holds, the U.S. may see significant election law changes during the 2010′s decade. There are still 3 significant groups of competent adult citizens who are denied the franchise in some parts of the nation: (1) residents of the territories and the District of Columbia; (2) members of parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, as well as supporters of independent candidates; (3) felons and ex-felons.

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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.