New California Term Limits Initiative Launched

November 25th, 2009

On November 25, California elections officials announced that an initiative to modify California’s legislative term limits law is cleared for circulation. It would not apply to any legislators now in office. It would provide that no future legislator could serve more than 12 years in the legislature. However, all 12 years could be served in one house of the legislature.

Under the current limits, no one may serve more than three 2-year terms in the Assembly, and no one may serve more than two 4-year terms in the State Senate. But, an individual who serves three terms in the Assembly may then serve two terms in the State Senate, for a total of 14 years of legislative service.

The new proposal has substantial financial backing and is very likely to qualify for the November 2010 ballot. Proponents will argue that under the existing term limits law, the office of Assembly speaker is always filled by someone who only has had four years of prior legislative experience, and furthermore that Speakers must leave office after just two years. Proponents argue that having inexperienced Speakers who only serve two years has injured the Assembly.

Proponents also argue that under the current law, Assembly members generally spend so much time concentrating on how they can win a seat in the State Senate when their Assembly service must stop, that they are poor legislators. Under the proposed new type of term limits, generally, the habit of an Assembly member going on to the State Senate would be mostly curtailed.



Dean Barkley Supports Lou Dobbs for President

November 24th, 2009

Dean Barkley, a key founder of the Minnesota Independence Party, and the only U.S. Senator in the last 60 years who was a member of a party other than the Democratic or Republican Parties, says Lou Dobbs is his choice for president in 2012. See this story. Barkley wishes Dobbs would accept the nomination of the Minnesota Independence Party. The only other time the Minnesota Independence Party ever had a presidential nominee was in 1996, when it ran Ross Perot. At the time, the party was the Minnesota branch of the Reform Party.

Although James Buckley was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1970 from New York as the nominee of the Conservative Party, Buckley was a registered Republican. Barkley was appointed to the U.S. Senate in October 2002 by Minnesota’s Governor at the time, Jesse Ventura, to fill the vacancy when Senator Paul Wellstone was killed. So although Barkley only served for a few months, he is the only minor party U.S. Senator since 1946, when Robert La Follette Jr. left the Wisconsin Progressive Party and became a Republican.

In Connecticut in 2006, Joe Lieberman was elected to the Senate as the nominee of the Connecticut for Lieberman Party, but, as in the case of James Buckley, Lieberman was never a member of the minor party that nominated him.

Covenant Party Appears to Win Gubernatorial Election in Northern Mariana Islands

November 24th, 2009

On November 23, the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. Commonwealth in the western Pacific, held a run-off gubernatorial election. The Covenant Party nominee, incumbent Benigno Filial, appears to have defeated the Republican Party nominee, Heinz Hofschneider, by a margin of 52%-48%. See this story.

Many Good Government Organizations Plan to File an Amicus in North Carolina Ballot Access Case

November 24th, 2009

Several prestigious good-government organizations have tentatively decided to file an amicus curiae brief with the North Carolina Supreme Court, in the pending ballot access case filed in 2005 by the Libertarian Party. The Green Party had joined somewhat later as a co-plaintiff. The North Carolina State Court of Appeals had recently upheld all of North Carolina’s laws on how minor parties get on the ballot, but the vote had been 2-1, so the case is automatically being heard by the State Supreme Court.

The organizations interested in supporting the minor parties in court include North Carolina Common Cause, and the League of Women Voters of North Carolina.

North Carolina requires more signatures to get a new party on the ballot than any other state, except for California. North Carolina is also one of the few states that won’t let voters register into unqualified parties. And North Carolina is the only state that lists some of the qualified parties on the state income tax form (to facilitate a donation from the taxpayer to the political party) but won’t list all of the qualified parties. North Carolina says the tax form should only list the parties with registration of at least 1% of the state total, so that even though the Libertarian Party is on the ballot through 2012, it can’t be listed on the tax form.

Virginia Counts Some More Votes from November 2008

November 24th, 2009

On November 23, the Virginia State Board of Elections re-certified the November 2008 election results, to take account of another 105 votes that were counted this month. These ballots had not been counted last year because they arrived in the postal mail to late to be counted. They were foreign absentee votes. Recently a U.S. District Court ruled that these ballots should be counted, on the grounds that it wasn’t the voter’s fault that they arrived late, because elections officials had mailed them out to the voter too late.

The new votes were cast as follows: Barack Obama 49 votes, John McCain 53 votes, Bob Barr 1 vote, miscellaneous write-ins 2 votes, none for the other ballot-listed candidates, who were Ralph Nader, Chuck Baldwin, and Cynthia McKinney. The new presidential vote totals aren’t up on the Virginia State Board of Elections webpage yet, but they should be soon.

New York Still Counting Votes in Special U.S. House Election

November 24th, 2009

As of November 23, the tally in New York’s special election from November 3, 2009, for the U.S. House, 23rd district, stands at: Bill Owens (Democrat, Working Families) 72,711; Doug Hoffman (Conservative) 69,314; Dede Scozzafava (Republican, Independence) 8,619. Only 628 absentee ballots remain to be counted. See this story. Although it seems impossible that Owens can be defeated, Hoffman might conceivably mount some sort of challenge to the vote-counting process.

Moderate Party’s Founder Fined Because He Donated $20,000 to the Party He Founded

November 24th, 2009

The Rhode Island State Board of Elections wants to levy a fine of $10,000 against Ken Block, because Block donated $20,000 to the Moderate Party of Rhode Island. Block is the person most responsible for conceiving of the Moderate Party and bringing it into existence as a ballot-qualified party earlier this year. See this story.

The whole purpose of limits on how much individuals may contribute to political parties is to prevent big donors from indirectly bribing influential politicians. Such limits make no sense when applied to political parties that have never elected any officials. The U.S. Supreme Court made this point in McConnell v FEC, and almost invited a minor party someday to bring an as-applied challenge. McConnell v FEC is the 2003 decision that upheld most of the McCain-Feingold law, which made it illegal for individuals to donate large amounts of money to national committees of political parties. It is not known if Block will defend himself using the constitutional argument. He does not concede that his donation broke any Rhode Island campaign law. He donated $10,000 to the state Moderate Party, and another $10,000 to one of the town committees of that party. The law is ambiguous about whether that is permitted.

California’s New Lieutenant Governor

November 23rd, 2009

On November 23, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that he is appointing State Senator Abel Maldonado to be California’s new Lieutenant Governor. Senator Maldonado is the author of the “top-two open primary” ballot measure that will be on the June 2010 ballot. The State Senate must confirm him, but it is extremely likely that the Senate will approve the appointment. Maldonado is a Republican.

The office of Lieutenant Governor is vacant because the incumbent, Democrat John Garamendi, was elected to Congress in a special election earlier this month. California elects its Lieutenant Governor separately from its Governor.

California Court Re-Affirms Tentative Decision; Keeps Public Funding Measure on Ballot

November 23rd, 2009

On November 23, a Superior Court Judge in California re-affirmed his tentative decision of November 19, and ruled that the ballot measure for public funding should remain on the June 2010 ballot. The case is Institute of Governmental Advocates v Bowen, 34-2009-80000305.

Minnesota Independence Party Will No Longer Endorse Nominees of Other Parties

November 23rd, 2009

The Minnesota Independence Party recently voted not to endorse the nominees of other political parties. She this story. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

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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.