U.S. District Court in Virginia Explains Why It Upheld Residency Requirement for Circulators

August 31st, 2010

On August 23, U.S. District Court Judge Henry E. Hudson, a Bush Jr. appointee, ruled from the bench in Lux v Rodrigues, upholding a Virginia law that says circulators for a U.S. House candidate may not work outside their home district.  On August 26, he issued this written opinion.

On August 27, the plaintiffs filed an appeal with the 4th circuit.

The U.S. District Court decision completely misses the point that the restriction violates the circulator’s free speech rights.  The decision does not talk about circulator’s rights.  It says the law is necessary to keep the ballot from being too crowded.  The decision ignores the evidence that no U.S. House race in Virginia history has ever had more than six candidates on a government-printed general election ballot.  Thanks to Gary Sinawski for the news.



Florida Legislator Who Lost Primary Files Lawsuit to Void Primary Results Because Opponent Didn’t Report Finances

August 31st, 2010

On August 31, Florida Representative Kevin Ambler filed a lawsuit in state court to void the results of the August 24 primary in the State Senate race in the 12th district (Tampa area).  Ambler lost the Republican primary by a vote of 14,603 for himself, to 18,547 votes for Jim Norman.

The lawsuit charges that Norman didn’t report a very large business transaction on his campaign finance reports, and therefore the primary was tainted and should be reversed.  See this story.

No one filed to be on the ballot in any party in this race except these two Republicans.  There are two declared write-in candidates, however.

Tom Tancredo, Constitution Party Nominee for Colorado Governor, Would Support Legalization of Marijuana

August 31st, 2010

This news interview with Tom Tancredo, Constitution Party nominee for Governor of Colorado, reveals that Tancredo supports legalizing marijuana.  Thanks to ThirdPartyDaily for the link.

Florida Supreme Court Removes Three of the Legislature’s Ballot Measures

August 31st, 2010

On August 31, the Florida Supreme Court removed three statewide ballot questions from the November ballot.  See this story.  The legislature had put all three on the ballot.  The Court said the legislature’s ballot descriptions of its measures are fundamentally misleading.  One of the measures would, if passed, cancel out two initiatives to provide for a non-partisan commission to draw boundaries for U.S. House districts and state legislative districts.  Thanks to Rick Hasen’s ElectionLawBlog for this news.

The Florida Supreme Court also rejected challenges to the two initiatives on redistricting.

The decision rejecting the legislature’s redistricting measures is Florida Department of State v Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches, SC10-1375.  The decision rejecting the legislature’s property tax measure is Roberts v Doyle, SC10-1508.  The decision rejecting the legislature’s ballot measure to attempt to cancel the new federal health insurance law is Florida Department of State v Mangat, SC10-1527.  And the decision upholding ballot placement for the two initiatives on redistricting is Roberts v Brown, SC10-1362.

Four-party Debate in California U.S. House Race

August 31st, 2010

On August 31, a debate was held for the four candidates on the ballot in California’s U.S. House race, 17th district.  The candidates were:  incumbent Democrat Sam Farr, Republican Jeff Taylor, Green Party nominee Eric Petersen, and Libertarian nominee Mary Larkin.  See this story.

10th Circuit Upholds Colorado Ballot Access Restriction, Even Though the Legislature has Already Repealed That Restriction Effective in 2011

August 31st, 2010

On August 31, the 10th circuit upheld Colorado’s unique law, barring independent candidates (for office other than President) if they have been registered members of a qualified party in the 17 months before the general election.  As a result, Kathleen Curry, Colorado’s only independent legislator, must be a write-in candidate this year as she tries to be re-elected.  The 21-page decision is here.  It is by Judge Michael Murphy, a Clinton appointee, and is co-signed by Judges Wade Brorby and Deanell Tacha, both Reagan appointees.

The decision was issued without oral argument, and will not be reported.

If any ballot access decision ever can be said to have lack common sense, this one qualifies.  The Colorado legislature this year repealed the requirement.  Unfortunately for the plaintiff-candidate, the new relaxed law does not take effect until 2011.  One wonders, if the legislature doesn’t feel the old law is needed, how can there possibly be a state interest in such a law?  Furthermore, the rationale of the decision, that the law is needed to preserve “stability”, is absurd.  No other state has such a restrictive prior disaffiliation law for independent candidates, yet one doesn’t observe “instability” in the other 49 states.

The decision also lacks common sense because Colorado permits political parties to nominate someone who is newly-affiliated with that party.  Therefore, independent voters who support an independent candidate have fewer rights than political parties.  The decision’s equal protection argument pays no attention at all to the interests of independent voters.

Pennsylvania ACLU Takes Carl Stevenson Ballot Access Case to Pennsylvania Supreme Court

August 31st, 2010

Carl Stevenson is an independent candidate for Pennsylvania legislature.  He was challenged off the ballot on the grounds that some of his signatures had been collected by someone who doesn’t live in the same district.  The Commonwealth Court removed him from the ballot, even though in 2002 a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania had struck down the requirement that circulators must live in the same district.

According to this story, the ACLU of Pennsylvania is now representing Stevenson, and has appealed his lawsuit to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Florida Tea Party Legislative Candidate Sues Secretary of State Over Ballot Exclusion Caused by Paperwork Error

August 31st, 2010

Recently, John A. Ferentinos filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida Secretary of State, over his exclusion from the ballot.  He wishes to run as a Tea Party candidate for State Senate, 26th district.  He paid his filing fee and submitted candidacy forms, but he was kept off the ballot because he forgot to fill in the name of his bank on the form “Appointment of Campaign Treasurer and Designation of Campaign Depository for Candidates.”

The only other person running for that seat is the incumbent, Senator Michael Haridopolos.  Ferentinos notes that Senator Haridopolos also failed to complete a question on his form.  Senator Haridopolos apparently failed to check a box that asks if the bank account is a primary account or a secondary account.

Ferentinos also notes that his failure to put the name of his bank on that form did not cause election officials any harm, because they had his filing fee check and obviously the bank’s name was on the check.  The lawsuit is Ferentinos v Roberts, in the middle district, in Orlando, 6:10-cv-1251.  His odds are not good because the state will probably argue that he should have filed the lawsuit back in June or July.  He was notified that he was off the ballot in late June.  Thanks to Darryl Mentro for this news.

Minnesota Independence Party Gubernatorial Candidate at 13% in Poll

August 31st, 2010

On August 31, the MPR News-Humphrey Institute released a poll for the Minnesota gubernatorial race.  It shows:  Republican Tom Emmer 34%; Democratic-Farmer-Labor Mark Dayton 34%, Independence Party Tom Horner 13%, undecided or other 19%.  See this story.

Horner, the Independence Party nominee, is already higher in this poll than Jesse Ventura was in similar polls at this point in the 1998 election cycle.  Ventura was at 10% in polls in mid-September 1998, but he won with 37%.  At that time the name of the Independence Party of Minnesota was the Reform Party.

Minnesota has a very active group working for Instant-Runoff Voting.

New York City Voters Will Vote on Whether to Ease Ballot Access

August 31st, 2010

On November 2, voters in New York City will vote on two amendments to the city charter.  The second question requires voters to cast a “Yes” or “No” vote on seven separate aspects of election law, including easier ballot access for candidates for city office.  See the details here.

The first amendment would restore two-term term limits for members of the city council, and the city’s executive elected positions.

These measures were put on the ballot by the Charter Review Commission.  That body heard lots of testimony in favor of making New York city elections non-partisan, but the Commission didn’t put that issue on the ballot.

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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.