Washington Secretary of State Says Referendum 71 Has Enough Valid Signatures

August 31st, 2009

On August 31, the office of Washington’s Secretary of State said that Referendum-71 had at least 1,000 more valid signatures than were needed. UPDATE: the state court weighing the challenge to this petition will issue its ruling on Wednesday morning, Sep. 2. See this story. The Referendum was filed to block a law passed by the legislature, to let same-sex couples have the same legal rights that married couples have. The referendum petition campaign has created two different lawsuits. One, in federal court, is over whether the names of petition signers should be public. The other, in lower state court, questions whether certain signatures should have been disallowed.



3-Way New Jersey Gubernatorial Debates To Take Place After All

August 31st, 2009

According to this story, the 3-candidate gubernatorial debates in New Jersey will occur on the original schedule. The first one will be attended by all three candidates, and will be October 1.

Carl Romanelli Asks Pennsylvania Supreme Court to Reconsider Fees

August 31st, 2009

On August 31, Carl Romanelli, Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania in 2006, filed his own pro se Petition for Reconsideration with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The case concerns the $80,000 that Romanelli’s challengers were awarded some years ago. The petition is here, and it is heartfelt and gets directly into details that the Pennsylvania state courts have overlooked in their previous actions in this case.

Massachusetts Election Set for January 19, 2010

August 31st, 2009

Massachusetts will hold a special election to fill its vacant U.S. Senate seat on January 19, 2010. The three qualified parties (Democratic, Republican and Libertarian) nominate by primary, and that primary will be on December 8, 2009.

Connecticut Public Funding Law May Continue in Force During Appeal

August 31st, 2009

The Connecticut public funding campaign law that was declared unconstitutional on August 27 will continue to be in force, while the state files an expedited appeal to the 2nd circuit. U.S. District Court Stefan Underhill stayed his own decision for two weeks, and the stay will probably be extended. Thanks to David Donnelly for this news.

Rhode Island House Reconvenes October 14

August 31st, 2009

The Rhode Island House of Representatives will reconvene on October 14 and 15. It is somewhat likely that the House will pass SB 203, which eases ballot access for new parties. That bill has already passed the Senate.

Other state legislatures that are expected to be active in dealing with election law bills the remainder of this calendar year are Illinois (where the legislature must decide whether to amend HB 326, or see it vetoed); Ohio (where ballot access for new parties will be determined); California; and probably the Massachusetts legislature will soon decide whether to authorize gubernatorial appointments to fill U.S. Senate vacancies, for the interim period before a special election can be held. Also, the North Carolina legislature is meeting, and the State Board of Elections has asked it to amend the law to provide that all qualified parties be listed on the income tax check-off (so taxpayers can send a small donation to the party they choose). The current law says only qualified parties with registration membership of 1% should be on the form.

Connecticut Working Families Party Weighs Which Democrat to Support for Governor

August 31st, 2009

On August 29, the Connecticut Working Families Party held a meeting to hear from all the contenders from the Democratic Party for governor next year. See this story, which says that 158 WFP members attended.

The Connecticut Working Families Party has been on the ballot for some offices in Connecticut since 2002, but so far it hasn’t been on the ballot for any statewide race. But, the party expects to run a full slate for statewide office in 2010. It is free to either cross-endorse the Democratic nominees, or conceivably a Republican nominee (although that is unlikely) or to run its own members.

Georgia Activists Still Waiting for Georgia Supreme Court to Decide Audit Trail Case

August 31st, 2009

On July 13, the Georgia Supreme Court heard arguments in Favorito v Handel, S09A1367, the case over whether vote-counting machines that leave no audit trail violate either the Georgia Constitution or the U.S. Constitution. Here is an article by Garland Favorito, carried August 30 in OpEdNews, about the lawsuit.

Winning Party in Japan Would Have Won Even More Seats, but it Didn’t Run a Full Slate

August 30th, 2009

On August 30, Japan held an election for all 480 seats in the lower legislative body. The winning party, the Democratic Party of Japan, has won at least 270 seats and may have won 300, ousting the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Ironically, the winning party would have won even more seats, except that it didn’t run a full slate of candidates. See this story. Thanks to Rick Kissell for the link.

New Jersey 3-Way Gubernatorial Debate May Fall Through

August 29th, 2009

According to this story, the planned 3-candidate New Jersey gubernatorial debates are on shaky ground. The law requires candidates who receive public funding to participate, but Democratic nominee Jon Corzine, the incumbent, has not asked for public funding. Corzine has not said he won’t participate. However, the director of the state agency that sponsors the debates has asked that the first debate be postponed from October 1 to October 22. Republican nominee Christopher Christie, and the independent who has been invited into the debates, Chris Daggett, believe that the Governor is behind the request to postpone the debate, and they are opposed to postponement.

 

 

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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.
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    "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.
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    ThirdPartyNews.net

    A site that covers news about minor parties.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.