Howard Dean Op-Ed Asks Burlington Voters to Retain Instant Runoff Voting

February 26th, 2010

Howard Dean, former national chair of the Democratic National Committee, has this op-ed in the February 26 issue of the Burlington (Vermont) Free Press. His op-ed asks Burlington voters to retain Instant Runoff Voting. He points out that the Democratic Party nominee lost the Mayor’s election in both 2006 and 2009 in Burlington, but he still supports IRV and he also predicts the Democratic nominee will win the Mayor’s election in 2012.



Kristin Davis to Run for New York Governor as an Independent

February 26th, 2010

According to this story, Kristin Davis will announce her candidacy as an independent candidate for Governor of New York on March 1. Earlier, Davis had said she would seek the Libertarian Party nomination.

Minnesota House Passes Bill, Moving Primary from September to August

February 26th, 2010

On February 25, the Minnesota House passed SF 2251, which moves the primary from mid-September to August 10. It takes effect this year.

The bill also moves the petition deadline for independent candidates (for office other than president) from 56 days before the primary, to 70 days before the primary. If it is signed into law, the independent candidate deadline this year moves from July 17 to June 1.

Courts in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina, have ruled that independent candidates (for office other than president) cannot be forced to file their petitions as early as the same day on which primary candidates file. But no one in Minnesota government seems to be aware of this.

SF 2251 is still not through the legislature. The House amended the bill, so now it returns to the Senate.

Massachusetts Group Will Attempt to Qualify “Independent Party”

February 26th, 2010

Massachusetts election law has two methods for a group to become a qualified party. The older method is for the group to run a candidate for statewide office. If that candidate polls 3% of the vote, then the ballot label for that candidate becomes a qualified party. This is how the Libertarian Party won this status in 2008; its U.S. Senate candidate polled over 3% of the vote.

The other method has existed only since 1990. A group can register its name, and then elections officials keep track of how many voters register as members of that group, on voter registration forms. If it gets registration of 1% of the state total, then it becomes qualified as well. No group has ever used this method.

Recently, the Independent Party filed paperwork to become eligible to have a voter registration tally. See this story. Massachusetts has never before had a ballot-qualified party named “Independent Party”, although there was an “Independent Voters Party” recognized after the 1990 election. It went off the ballot after the 1992 election because it didn’t poll as much as 3% for any statewide office in 1992 and also because it never attained registration of 1%.

Fifth Circuit Interprets Poorly-Worded Clause of Mississippi Constitution to Not Permit Felons to Vote for President

February 25th, 2010

On February 25, the 5th circuit construed Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution. That section is written with confusing sentence construction. Plaintiffs had argued that it seems to say that felons can vote in presidential elections, but the Court read it another way. Here is the decision, Young v Hosemann, 08-60941.

Section 241 says, “Qualification for Electors. Every inhabitant of this state, except idiots and insane persons, who is a citizen of the United States of America, 18 years old and upward, who has been a resident of this state for one year, and for one year in the county in which he offers to vote, and for 6 months in the election precinct or in the incorporated city or town in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement or bigamy, is declared to be a qualified elector, except that he shall be qualified to vote for President and Vice President of the United States if he meets the requirements established by Congress therefor and is otherwise a qualified elector.”

Washington Bill Advances, Would Prohibit Convicted Sex Offenders from Circulating Initiative & Referendum Petitions

February 25th, 2010

On February 15, the Washington State Senate passed Substitute SB 6449, which makes it illegal for convicted sex offenders to circulate initiative or referendum petitions. The bill adds other restrictions to the petition process as well. The vote was 29-19.

The Hill Speculates that Governor Charlie Crist of Florida May Run as an Independent for the Senate

February 25th, 2010

The Hill has this story, speculating that Florida Governor Charlie Crist may yet decide to run for the U.S. Senate this year as an independent, instead of as a Republican. The article has an allusion to Senator Specter of Pennsylvania, but that seems off-the-subject, because Specter switched directly from Republican to Democratic, and was never an independent. Thanks to Ken Rudin for the link.

Special Hawaii U.S. House Election Set for May 22

February 25th, 2010

Hawaii will hold a special election on Saturday, May 22, to fill the soon-to-be vacant U.S. House seat, First District. Incumbent Neil Abercrombie will soon resign in order to run for Governor. Hawaii holds primaries and special elections on Saturdays.

First Merits Brief Filed in U.S. Supreme Court in Doe v Reed, on Petition Signers Privacy

February 25th, 2010

See this fascinating brief, filed February 25 in the U.S. Supreme Court in Doe v Reed, 09-559. This is the case over whether states should make public the names and addresses of people who sign petitions.

Even if you normally don’t read briefs, consider reading this one. It is 70 pages. If you prefer to print briefs in order to read them (instead of reading them on a computer screen), and if you only want to read the text itself, you can skip printing the first 13 pages, which are various non-text Tables of Authorities.

The case will be argued in the U.S. Supreme Court on April 28.

Maine Bill Defeated, Would have Provided Public List of Initiative and Referendum Signers

February 25th, 2010

On February 25, the Maine Joint Legal & Veterans Affairs defeated LD 1690. It would have provided that after the town clerks had checked initiative and referendum petitions, the Secretary of State would have made an electronic list available to anyone of those names and addresses. The purpose would have been to make it easier for opponents of such referendum and initiative petitions to challenge the validity of the signatures. See this story.

The bill also would have let voters who had signed an initiative or referendum petition remove their names, up until 15 days before the petitions are due. Thanks to Ballot Box News 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.