South Carolina Democratic Party Says it Won’t Let Ex-Felon Run for Congress in its Primary

January 31st, 2010

On January 13, the Executive Director of the South Carolina Democratic Party sent a letter to Brian Doyle, who wants to run in this year’s Democratic primary for U.S. House, 3rd district. The incumbent in that seat is not running for re-election.

The letter says, “Brian: As I am sure you are aware, the Party must follow the Constitution of the State of South Carolina when accepting a candidate’s filing. It is our understanding that you were convicted in 2003 of a felony and that alone disqualifies you from seeking office in South Carolina. The South Carolina Constitution clearly states, “A person convicted of a felony or an offense against the election laws is not qualified to file or to hold office, unless it has been fifteen years since the completion of the sentence for the crime or unless the person has been pardoned. The South Carolina Democratic Party would be forced under the law to reject your candidate filing this year.”

For over 90 years, state and federal courts have consistently ruled states cannot add to the qualifications listed in the U.S. Constitution to serve in Congress. The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed this understanding in 1995, when it ruled in U.S. Term Limits v Thornton that states may not keep candidates for Congress off any ballot, just because the person has already served three terms in Congress.

On January 27, Doyle sued the South Carolina Democratic Party over its threat to keep him off its primary ballot, and also over its failure so far to include him on the party’s web page list of candidates this year. Here is a link to the party’s web page. The case is Doyle v South Carolina Democratic Party, 3:10cv-203, filed in U.S. District Court.

If political parties had the power to add qualifications to run in their own primaries for Congress, then, in theory, the Republican Party (which once endorsed term limits for Congress) could provide by party rules that no long-serving member of Congress would be permitted to run in a Republican primary for re-election.



New London, Connecticut Daily Newspaper Editorial Calls for Eliminating Discriminatory Parts of Public Funding Law

January 31st, 2010

The New London, Connecticut newspaper The Day has this editorial, calling on the Connecticut legislature to eliminate the parts of the state’s public funding law that discriminates against candidates who are not Democrats or Republicans.

California “Top-Two Open Primary” to be on Ballot as Proposition 14

January 31st, 2010

The California Secretary of State has assigned proposition numbers to the six statewide ballot measures that will be on the ballot on June 8, 2010. The “top-two open primary”, which was put on the ballot by the legislature, will be Proposition 14. Thanks to Calitics for this news.

The ballot measure for public funding of campaigns for candidates for Secretary of State is Proposition 15.

TIME Magazine Article on Vermont’s Independence Day Party

January 31st, 2010

TIME Magazine has this story on the Independence Day Party of Vermont, which plans to run a gubernatorial candidate and at least 7 candidates for the State Senate this year. Thanks to several people who sent me the link.

January 1, 2010 Printed Ballot Access News Now On-Line

January 30th, 2010

Ballot Access News is a print publication, and the print publication includes much content, including news, that is never mentioned in the blog. Anyone can subscribe to the print publication for only $15 per year, for 12 issues per year. However, people who don’t wish to subscribe are free to read the print issue on-line, because print issues are posted on-line after they have been out for 30 days. The January 1, 2010 issue is now posted.

Anyone who wishes to subscribe to the print edition may send a check for $15 to BAN, PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147. Or use paypal, using the e-mail ban@richardwinger.com. If you subscribe by paypal, don’t forget to include your postal address. Thank you very much to all of you who already are subscribers. Without the income from the printed newsletter, the newsletter and this blog wouldn’t exist.

Sudan Ballot Access Woes

January 30th, 2010

Sudan is preparing for its first free democratic presidential election in 24 years. Unfortunately, presidential candidates are being kept off the ballot due to ballot access petition technicalities. See this story.

Illinois Supreme Court Restores Republican to Illinois Primary Ballot

January 30th, 2010

On January 28, the Illinois Supreme Court issued an order putting a Republican candidate for the Illinois legislature back on the ballot. Cynthia Hebda is a Republican running for State House, 59th district, which includes part of Lake County and part of Cook County. Before she decided to run, she had signed the petition to place incumbent Carole Sente on the Democratic primary ballot. The fact that she signed a petition for someone in the Democratic primary was used in the lower courts to remove her from the Republican ballot.

Hebda said she signed for Sente because they are friends. A Cook County Circuit Court had then removed Hebda from the Republican ballot on January 7, and the State Court of Appeals then agreed with the lower court. But, the State Supreme Court has reversed the two lower courts.

The ballots had already been printed with Hebda’s name on the ballot, but notices at early voting polling places had said that Hebda is not eligible to be a candidate and that votes cast for her would not be counted. See this story. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Illinois voter registration forms do not ask voters to choose a party. However, Illinois recognizes that voters are party members, depending on which party’s primary ballot they choose. A record is kept of which party’s primary ballot a voter chooses, and someone who chooses a Republican primary ballot is treated as a member of the Republican Party. Similarly, if a voter signs a petition to place a candidate on a party primary ballot, that voter is also treated as though he or she is a member of that party. So, when Hebda signed a primary petition for a Democrat, the law deemed her to be a Democrat, and thus ineligible to run in a Republican primary. Illinois and Ohio are the two states which don’t have registration by party on the voter registration, and yet which try to classify voters as party members depending on what actions they take. They results of the Illinois/Ohio system create many ambiguous legal problems. It will be fortunate if the Illinois Supreme Court, having issued injunctive relief to Hebda, will also write a decision clarifying Illinois law.

California Green Activist Has Op-Ed in Oakland Tribune on Instant Runoff Voting

January 30th, 2010

Christopher Kavanagh, a Green Party activist, has this op-ed in the Oakland, California Tribune, about recent gains for Instant Runoff Voting in Alameda County.

New Arizona Registration Data

January 30th, 2010

The Arizona Secretary of State has released new registration data here. It is as of January 1, 2010. Since the October 1, 2009 tally, Republicans have lost 5,168 registrants, Democrats have lost 7,020 registrants, Libertarians have gained 798 registrants, and independents have gained 9,001 registrants.

Arizona has stopped tallying Green Party registrants, and all Greens are now lumped in with independents. The data in the paragraph above this paragraph is based on the assumption that Green registration since October 2009 has not changed. It was 4,237 in October 2009. Of course it has probably changed slightly, but the data is unavailable, so that is the best approximation that can be made.

West Virginia Bills to Require Write-in Candidates to Pay Filing Fee

January 29th, 2010

Two bills have been introduced in the West Virginia legislature to require declared write-in candidates to pay filing fees. West Virginia filing fees are 1% of the annual salary of the office sought. However, the presidential filing fee is capped at $2,500. The bills are SB334 and HB 2657. Thanks to Jeff Becker for this news.

In 2000, a U.S. District Court ruled that West Virginia’s old filing fee for declared write-in candidates is unconstitutional. The case is Phillips v Hechler, 120 F.Supp.2d 587. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 and 1974 said that filing fees are unconstitutional unless they are needed for the compelling government interest in keeping ballots uncrowded. The names of write-in candidates are not printed on the ballot, so the existence of write-in candidates does not result in a crowded ballot. Therefore, filing fees on write-in candidates cannot stand. Other states in which filing fees have been declared unconstitutional for write-in candidates are Maryland and California.

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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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Essays by Richard Winger:

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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.