9th Circuit Sets Hearing in Case on Whether Signatures on Petitions are Private

September 29th, 2009

The 9th circuit will hear Doe v Reed, no. 09-35818, in Pasadena, California, on Wednesday, October 14. This is the case from Washington state on whether the Secretary of State should release the names and addresses of people who signed a referendum petition, to a group that wants to put that information on a web page. The particular referendum petition at issue was filed to require a vote on the civil union law passed earlier this year by the legislature. The lower court had issued an injunction, preventing the names from being released. The Secretary of State will ask the 9th circuit to reverse that injunction.



New York Special U.S. House Election Set for November 3, 2009

September 29th, 2009

New York will fill the vacant U.S. House seat, 23rd district, on November 3, 2009. The race seems likely to be a 3-way contest, because the Conservative Party has its own nominee, and is not cross-endorsing the Republican nominee.

ACLU Files Lawsuit Against Georgia Restriction on Absentee Voting

September 29th, 2009

Georgia has an election law that says absentee ballots can only be mailed to the voter’s permanent address, or to a temporary address that is outside the voter’s home county or municipality. On September 29, two voters filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that that law is unconstitutional as applied to registered voters who happen to be in jail (in their home town or city) because of a misdemeanor. Ironically, if either of them had been in jail in a city other than their home city, they could have received an absentee ballot.

The case is based on a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision from New York, which struck down a virtually identical New York law. The ACLU National Voting Rights Office is representing the two voters. The case is Swann v Handel, 1:09-cv-2674, northern district. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news.

Four 3-Person Debates Will Occur in New Jersey Gubernatorial Race

September 29th, 2009

New Jersey holds a gubernatorial election on November 3, 2009. Four debates, each featuring three candidates, will occur during October. Jon Corzine, the Democratic nominee, Chris Christie, the Republican nominee, and independent candidate Chris Daggett will debate each other on October 1, October 16, and October 22 (although the October 16 debate will not be broadcast until October 18). Their Lieutenant Governor running mates will debate each other on October 8. See this story.

University of Iowa Publicizes Scholarly Study That Suggests Nader Helped Gore in 2000

September 29th, 2009

The June 2009 issue of the Journal of Marketing Research has an article, “Could Ralph Nader’s Entrance and Exit Have Helped Al Gore?”. The three authors are University of Iowa Professor William Hedgcock, Professor Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota, and Professor Haipeng Chen of Texas A&M University. On September 29, the University of Iowa News Service sent out this press release, publicizing the article.

The article is in Volume 46, pages 330-343, of the Journal of Marketing Research. It depends on experimental research conducted by the authors. The thesis is that when undecided people make a decision about something, whether it’s a political candidate or a brand of soda, and identify with that decision, that when their original choice becomes unavailable, they select an alternative option with the most similar attributes. UPDATE: here is a link to a preliminary draft of the article.

Vermont Progressive Mulls Run for Lieutenant Governor as Nominee of Progressive Party and Democratic Party

September 28th, 2009

David Zuckerman, a Vermont state legislator who was elected only as a Progressive, is considering running for Lieutenant Governor in 2010 and seeking both the Progressive Party nomination and the Democratic Party nomination. In 2008, the vote for Lieutenant Governor in the general election had been Republican 55.0%, Democratic 39.1%, Progressive 4.5%, Liberty Union 1.2%. Zuckerman ponders aloud in the Progressive Party’s blog at this link.

Georgia Supreme Court Upholds Vote-Counting Machines that Leave No Paper Trail

September 28th, 2009

On September 28, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously upheld Georgia’s use of electronic vote-counting machines that don’t leave any paper trail or other audit trail. The case is Favorito v Handel, S09A1367. The decision, which is only eleven pages long, is here.

The lower court had not permitted a trial, so the case was decided with virtually no evidence on either side. The Georgia Supreme Court expended very little effort on its decision. It is mostly quotations from other courts from other states that also ruled nothing in any Constitution protects the right of voters to vote using methods that provide an audit trail. The Court also said, on page 9, “The undisputed evidence shows that the touch-screen machines accurately record each vote when they are ‘properly operated’, which is odd, since the plaintiffs were never given an opportunity to present evidence.

New York Times Story on Dysfunctional Run-off Primaries in New York City

September 28th, 2009

The New York Times published this story on September 27, about the state law that requires run-off primaries in New York city, if the person who placed first in the first primary failed to receive at least 40% of the vote. The article predicts that fewer than 10% of registered Democrats will vote in the September 29 run-off primary for Public Advocate, yet the run-off will cost $15,000,000 in taxpayer funds. Even though the article is moderately long, it does not mention the idea that the city use Instant Runoff Voting. UPDATE: the article does mention IRV toward the end.

President Obama Likely to be Neutral In New York City Mayoral Race

September 28th, 2009

According to this story by Elizabeth Benjamin in the New York Daily News, President Obama is likely to be neutral in the November 2009 election for Mayor of New York city. Thanks to Nancy Hanks for the link. Mayor Mike Bloomberg is a registered independent, with the nomination of the Republican Party and the Independence Party. Bill Thompson is the Democratic nominee.

Washington Secretary of State Files Brief in 9th circuit to Overturn Secrecy of Petition Signatures Ruling

September 28th, 2009

Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed filed a brief with the 9th circuit on September 28, in the lawsuit John Doe #1 v Reed, 09-35818. This is the case over whether the Constitution requires that signatures on petitions be considered private, not public information. A U.S. District Court judge had ruled on September 10 in favor of secrecy, and enjoined the Secretary of State from releasing the names and addresses of signers of the petition to require a public vote on the civil unions law passed earlier this year by the legislature. Supporters of the law had wanted to post the names and addresses of the petition signers on the internet.

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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.