California State Court Decides Lawsuit Between Two Factions of Los Angeles County Republican Party

May 29th, 2010

Ever since 2009, two different individuals have been claiming to be the rightful county chair of the Los Angeles County, California, Republican Party. On May 28 a Superior Court Judge ruled in favor of one of those individuals. See this story.



Arizona Legislator Removed from Office for Violating Public Funding Rules

May 29th, 2010

The Arizona law for public funding of state candidates says that if someone takes public funding, but then disobeys the law and spends more private money than is authorized, that person should be removed from office, whether it is a legislator or an executive position. On May 28, the office that handles the public funding program declared that Doug Quelland, a state legislator, is now no longer a legislator. The lawsuit over whether Quelland should be removed has been going on since August 2009, but the last court ruling was against him. See this story. Quelland says he cannot be removed yet because he is still appealing.

Tom Campbell, Another Republican Who Should Have Run as an Independent

May 29th, 2010

On May 29, the Los Angeles Times released this California public opinion poll. Click on the Survey Results button. The poll shows that most Californians are not pleased with incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. It also shows that among Republicans and independents who plan to vote in the Republican primary, the vote for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate is: Carly Fiorina 38%; Tom Campbell 23%; Chuck DeVore 15%; undecided, other, or won’t vote, 24%.

Campbell, a professor, a former state legislator, a former member of the U.S. House, and a former budget director for Governor Schwarzenegger, is very highly regarded by California moderates. Assuming the poll results are accurate, he will probably lose the Republican primary on June 8. Yet, chances are, if he were running as an independent candidate in November against Senator Boxer and likely Republican nominee Carly Fiorina, he could win. Another moderate Republican who is running independently this year, Charlie Crist in Florida, is leading in polls. Some commentators have said that Arlen Specter and Robert Bennett, two incumbent U.S. Senators who were defeated for nomination this month by their own party, could also potentially have won in November if they had run as independents.

The Los Angeles Times poll has other interesting results, including a poll of registered independents on why they are registered that way. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.

Salt Lake Tribune Ediorializes in Favor of Electronic Signatures for Petitions

May 29th, 2010

The May 28 Salt Lake Tribune has this editorial, strongly endorsing the idea that the Utah legislature should revise the election laws to let electronic signatures count on various kinds of election-related petitions.

New York Conservative Party Backs Republican Rick Lazio for Governor

May 29th, 2010

According to this story, the New York Conservative Party leadership has endorsed Repubican Rick Lazio for Governor of New York. New York holds primaries on September 14. It is now virtually certain that Lazio will be the only nominee on the Conservative Party primary ballot. UPDATE: The Conservative Party will have a contested gubernatorial primary. Ralph Lorigo got enough support at the party’s convention to be on that primary ballot automatically.

The story also discusses the gubernatorial candidacy of Carl Paladino, who plans to run in the general election as the candidate of a new party. The story says the group hasn’t chosen a name for the party yet, but it may have a connection to the “Tea Party” label.

Two Politics Blogs Discuss Proposition 14′s Unintended Consequences for Determining Winners

May 29th, 2010

On May 28, two politics blogs happened to each make the same point about California’s Proposition 14, the top-two measure on the June 8 ballot. The authors of the two blogs wrote independently of each other, but both made the same point about the expected peculiar consequences of a top-two system. See this blog post from Confound Me, and this one from the Huffington Post, by Gautam Dutta.

California has not elected a Republican Attorney General since 1994. One can make a reasonable statement that, nowadays, Californians prefer a Democrat as Attorney General. But if Proposition 14 were in force this year, it would probably result in the election of a Republican Attorney General. Six Democrats have strong campaigns for Attorney General this year, and the few polls that have been conducted in this race show they all are approximately equal in voter support. But only two Republicans running for Attorney General this year have strong campaigns. Under Proposition 14, chances are that each of the Democrats running in the single primary would each get between 6% and 10% of the total primary vote. The two Republicans with strong campaigns would probably each get between 15% and 20% of the total vote. So, California would wind up with a general election race between two Republicans, even though perhaps 55% of the voters prefer a Democratic Attorney General.

Another original piece about Proposition 14 is this from TrueSlant, authored by Jerry Lanson.

May 2010 Ballot Access News print version

May 29th, 2010
  1. IDAHO INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL PETITION REQUIREMENT DECLARED UNCONSTITUTIONAL
  2. NADER FINALLY GETS ORAL ARGUMENT ON PENNSYLVANIA FEE
  3. RESIDENCY REQUIREMENTS FOR CIRCULATORS
  4. THREE BALLOT ACCESS CASES NOW PENDING IN US SUPREME COURT
  5. MAJOR PARTIES SET LATE CONVENTIONS
  6. NO BALLOT ACCESS IMPROVEMENT BILLS PASS THIS YEAR SO FAR
  7. PENNSYLVANIA LOSS
  8. BRITISH BALLOT FROM MAY 6 HOUSE OF COMMONS ELECTION
  9. FLYER AGAINST CALIFORNIA PROPOSITION 14
  10. OTHER LAWSUIT NEWS
  11. 2010 PETITIONING FOR STATEWIDE OFFICE
  12. SEIU BACKS NEW PARTY IN NORTH CAROLINA
  13. 2010 INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES
  14. POLL: 50% OF VOTERS HAVE VOTED FOR NON-MAJOR PARTY NOMINEES
  15. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

Read the rest of this entry »

Michigan State Senator Introduces Bill to License Journalists

May 29th, 2010

Michigan State Senator Bruce Patterson (R-Wayne County) has introduced SB 1323, to set up procedures for Michigan to license journalists. Senator Patterson says auto mechanics and hairdressers are licensed, so why not journalists? Applicants would be required to be of “good moral character”, and would pay a license fee after qualifying. This is not really election law news, but it bears slightly on the ongoing public debate about whether campaign finance laws should be restrictive or libertarian. Many people are passionately opposed to letting corporations engage in political speech, but they always wish to exempt newspaper and broadcast corporations. SB 1323 is a reminder that it is always possible for governments to think about treating journalists as just another group to be regulated and controlled. However, no one expects SB 1323 to be enacted. Thanks to Jim Bopp for this news.

Nebraska Lawsuit Against Residency Requirement for Circulators Gets Publicity

May 29th, 2010

The Omaha World-Herald has this story about the lawsuit that was filed on December 16, 2009, to challenge Nebraska’s residency restrictions for petition circulators. The publicity was gained because the Libertarian Party recently joined the lawsuit. It is odd that the lawsuit got no publicity at all when it was filed, but just having a new plaintiff has resulted in publicity. The case is Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09-cv-3255. This is an ACLU case.

The Nebraska Libertarian Party is already collecting signatures with in-state volunteers, but only has 400 signatures so far and needs 5,921 valid signatures by August 1. Nebraska now has no ballot-qualified parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, and the Libertarian Party is the only party trying to qualify this year.

Delaware Bill Introduced to Keep Constitution, Green Parties On Ballot This Year

May 29th, 2010

Earlier this year, the Delaware legislature doubled the threshold for a party to be ballot-qualified, and made that change effective immediately. Delaware is the only state in which a party’s qualified status is completely dependent on how many registered voters it has. On May 27, Representative Earl Jacques introduced HB 425, to provide that the new, more difficult requirement should not be implemented until 2011.

The old requirement was approximately 305 registered voters; the new one is 610 registered voters. The precise requirements can’t be known yet because they depend on how many voters are registered in August 2010.

The Delaware Election Commission asked for this bill, so as not to eliminate parties this year that don’t meet the new threshold and which have nominated candidates. It is very difficult for parties to gain new registrations in Delaware during an election year. Delaware has severe restrictions on the ability of voters to change parties during election years. Unless the bill passes, it is virtually certain that the Constitution Party nominees will be off the ballot, and there is some doubt as to whether the Green Party nominees would be off. The new law also disqualified the Socialist Workers Party and the Blue Enigma Party from this year’s ballot, but they didn’t have any nominees anyway. Thanks to Wolfgang von Baumgart for this news.

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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.