As the year 2010 commences, Ballot Access News is 25 years old. I wish to thank everyone who reads Ballot Access News, and especially to thank those of you who post comments. As far as I know, most or all of the other election law blogs don’t have a “Comment” feature. Or, if they do have such a feature, it seems difficult to use and few people take advantage of it. Your comments help educate me.
I also want to thank some attorneys who, for years, have done ballot access cases in multiple states during the last five years for little or no guaranteed compensation. Thank you, Bryan Sells of the ACLU and all the other ACLU attorneys who have worked on ballot access cases and other cases involving minor parties and independent candidates. Thank you to the Bernhoft law firm of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including Robert Bernhoft, Dan Treuden and Bob Barnes. Thank you, Oliver Hall of Washington, D.C. Thank you, law Professor Mark Brown of Columbus, Ohio. Thank you, Gary Sinawski, and thank you Jim Linger, both of whom have been doing this good work since the early 1980’s. Thank you, law professor Bob Bastress of Morgantown, West Virginia, not only for doing litigation in West Virginia and North Carolina but for being a skillful lobbyist.
Also, thanks to Christina Tobin, of Mill Valley, California, who in 2009 started building Free & Equal, a group with the potential to increase the clout of the movement for fairer election laws for political minorities. Thanks to the other employees and volunteers of Free & Equal.
Thank you, all members of the COFOE (Coalition for Free & Open Elections) Board, especially those of you who have served for ten years or longer, including Alice Kelsey, who has served as COFOE Treasurer since the early 1990’s. The other ten-year-plus veterans are Harry Kresky, who lets us use his law office; Tom McLaughlin; and Jim Clymer. COFOE, like Ballot Access News, turns 25 years old this year.
Thank you, Ron Paul, Tim Penny, and John Conyers, the three members of the U.S. House (past or present) who have introduced bills to outlaw restrictive ballot access laws in federal elections. Special thanks to Ron Paul, who has introduced that bill more times than anyone else, and who also gave the largest donation that Ballot Access News has ever received. Ron Paul is also the only member of Congress who ever succeeded in getting a vote on the House floor on the ballot access bill. That was in 1998, and it received 62 votes.
Thank you to Tim Brace, Chet Chin, for decades of help with the printed newsletter. And, thanks to Eric Garris, my webmaster. Without him, there would only be a Ballot Access News printed newsletter; the web page wouldn’t exist without him. Also thanks to Michael Ravnitzky, for making it possible for many of the older printed issues to be available on this web page. Thank you, Tim Thornburn and David Johnson, for help with my computer. Thank you, Jerry Kunz, my spouse and the person who has kept me sane and functional for 40 years now.
Thanks to Independent Political Report, the Election Law Blog, Votelaw Blog, and How Appealing, for being prime sources of news. Thank you to Rick Hasen and Dan Lowenstein for creating and maintaining the Election Law Journal. Thank you to many others who supply me with news. We all want a better election system, so even when we disagree, we have that in common with each other.
Thanks to Richard Winger for all the good work he does. American democracy would be a much more barren and lonely place without him.
Thank YOU, Richard, for every bit of hard work you do for America and democracy.
Thankyou, Richard Winger. BAN is an always interesting, daily read for me.
Long live Richard Winger and Ballot Access News!
Thanks to Richard, for leading the movement for 25 years.
Hope you get some main stream media attention out of this.
Ineffective ‘leaders’ [the DoD is full of them and they are full of it] grab all the credit and glory available.
True leaders turn around and make us think that we did it all our selves! As the Establishment Duopoly steadily gains strength and vitality, despite one public policy train wreck after another, it is in spite of and not because of patriots like ‘La Richarde’ ……….
Richard, thanks to you for keeping us informed. Your tireless work is an inspiration to all of us. You could not be more correct when you say, even though we disagree, we have this one thing in common.
This is one website I check every day. Your work has proved invaluable for me, whether it is writing papers or confronting politicians about the inequities in our system. This is one resource I couldn’t do without. Thanks for this publication Richard!
natural born citizen party thanks you
Thank you Richard Winger for editing Ballot Access News and for taking the time and effort to become an expert on the subject. Best wishes for a great New Year and a great New Decade!
Thank you Richard, for all you have done to make people aware, as well as for your efforts in challenging the many discrimintory laws regarding 3rd parties and independent candidates. I get so discouraged at some of the court rulings, and I often wonder where you get the determination to keep going when these setbacks come. Keep up the good work.
Thank You, Richard!! Your site is a daily must for all us who work in the signature gathering, voter registration field. You respect the people’s right not party bosses or government bureaucrats. I understand our rights to redress better with your site.
I appreciate all that you have done Richard. Thank you.
Thanks for 25 years! Your work is greatly appreciated.
Pingback: A quarter century of Ballot Access News | Independent Political Report
Speaking for myself and for many (probably everyone) here at IPR, thank you Richard for all your work, and we hope you’ll be around for a long time and that you’ll still doing what you do for as long as repressive ballot ballot access laws remain in place.
Ballot Access News is probably our #1 source of news, and we owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude for that, as well as for all your lobbying and testimony over all these years.
-Paulie
A lot of work. Fine job, sir!
Yes, thank you Richard! I’m glad I found this site last year. 2010 is going to be a busy year for third parties and independents!
Thanks for all the light you shine on confusing and generally unfair ballot access laws! Keep on keeping on.
Thank you so very much Richard. I check the BAN site atleast 3 times daily. It is incredibly helpful and everyone appreciates all of the time and effort that you put into this fight.
Thank you Richard for being a reliable and trustworthy source of news that isn’t really reported anywhere else!
Slogging through the many New Age MORON election laws, bureaucratic actions and inactions and court cases for 25 years is akin to the stress faced by Washington in 1775-1781.
All hail Richard Winger for his efforts — a light in the New Age political darkness in the U.S.A.
Thank you Richard for shining a light on the alternatives to the Bipartisan Party, and for showing what the Bipartisans do to prevent alternatives.
And thank you for showing that people can work together to bring down barriers, even if we don’t agree on what we want.
Congratulations, Richard, and thanks for all your hard work, research, and analysis through the years. Ballot Access News has been an invaluable and unique resource. There’s simply nothing else like it.
Richard, you are the greatest.
Richard — You truly are a marvel and model of diligence, persistence and energy. To another 25 years, although by that time let’s hope we’re celebrating success.
Hear! Hear! to the sentiments above. My colleagues at CUIP/independentvoting.org appreciate that you are my go-to source of sources; “Richard says…” is enough to settle any question. Thank you for all your excellent work.
Dear BAN – Happy Q.C. !
Just a note of congratulations from one who’s spent a few arduous years in the trenches — or should I say: states’-capitol hallways — lobbying for better ballot access. To folks like me, Richard Winger was not just the guiding light and the invaluable resource; my primary motivation was Winger’s dogged passion for what many consider an arcane and minor cause: ending discrimination against minorities — POLITICAL minorities.
O’er the years I’ve had chats with officials across the political map, like Eugene McCarthy, Ralph Nader, Howard Philips, Ross Perot, Ron Paul, Harry Browne, and various Greens, Socialists, and Natural Lawers. Unanimously they admire and credit Winger!
In some ways he’s the country’s unique ballot-access wonk, but to many he’s an amazing walking encyclopedia (and enthusiast) of election history and trivia. His monthly publication is humble in appearance but mighty in its cause: the definitive one-stop objective chronicle of political independents’ and minor parties’ struggle for legal and political justice. We simply couldn’t be as eternally vigilant without him.
[ Q.C.. = Quarter Century ]
Thanks Richard for your faithful work over all these years. I remember the early years, how much has changed since back in the day, and then making the successful transition from print to internet. Your work continues to inform and guide. B.A.N. is a daily must read for all political junkies.
Great work!
Thanks Richard for your commitment to building a unique resource for reliable information and for your focus on setting the record straight. I’ve been in politics my whole life yet I learn some new – and important – every day from BAN. And yes, I visit here every single day.
Thank you Richard for being perseverant. This is the first site I check on my break each day to get the most recent ballot access news. BAN is an oasis in the political news world. Keep up the good work!
Congratulations Richard! And thank you for your tireless efforts for a more competitive democracy.
Thanks for your ceaseless efforts Richard. Keep up the good work!
“Thank you Richard for shining a light on the alternatives to the Bipartisan Party, and for showing what the Bipartisans do to prevent alternatives.
And thank you for showing that people can work together to bring down barriers, even if we don’t agree on what we want.”
(I can’t imporve on what my friend Gene Berkman said, so I will just repeat it! Congratulations Richard, on all you have accomplished in the past, for you are doing now and what you continue to do for the free elections in the future! It’s been my honor to have known you for all these years! Hope to see you at the COFOE meeting at the end of next month)
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