U.S. Supreme Court Denies Lux Application, Says Law on Circulator Residency is Still Unsettled

September 30th, 2010

On September 30, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts denied injunctive relief to Herb Lux, independent candidate for U.S. House in Virginia.  The 3-page order says, “Lux may very well be correct that the Fourth Circuit precedent relied on by the District Court (Libertarian Party of Virginia, a case decided in 1985) has been undermined by our more recent decisions addressing the validity of petition circulation restrictions.  At the same time, we were careful in American Constitutional Law Foundation to differentiate between registration requirements, which were before the Court, and residency requirements, which were not.  Lux himself notes that the courts of appeals appear to be reaching divergent results in this area, at least with respect to the validity of state residency requirements.  Accordingly, even if the reasoning in Meyer and American Constitutional Law Foundation does support Lux’s claim, it cannot be said that his right to relief is ‘indisputably clear’.”

The order notes that to obtain injunctive relief from a Circuit Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, the applicant must demonstrate that the legal rights at issue are “indisputably clear.”  The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1999 that states can’t require circulators to be registered voters, but has never decided whether states can require them to be residents of the district or the state in which they are working.  The 2nd, 6th, 7th, 9th, and 10th circuits have struck down residency requirements for circulators, along with state courts or U.S. District Courts in states not in those circuits, namely New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.  On the other hand, the 4th circuit upheld a district residency requirement back in 1985, and the 8th circuit upheld an in-state residency requirement in 2001.

There is a good chance the U.S. Supreme Court will eventually agree to hear this case to decide the issue, but first it must go through the 4th circuit, which may take a year.



U.S. Government Asks for More Time to Respond to Lawsuit in U.S. Supreme Court on Size of U.S. House

September 30th, 2010

On August 26, 2010, the plaintiffs in Clemons v U.S. Department of Commerce had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear that case, 10-291.  The issue is whether the Constitution implicitly requires that the size of the U.S. House of Representatives be increased, because at its current size, it is impossible for “one man, one vote” principles to apply, because U.S. House districts cannot cross state lines.  As a result, the voters of Montana only have one member of the U.S. House, and the voters of Wyoming also have one member of the U.S. House, but Montana has almost twice as many people as Wyoming.

The response of the Solicitor General was due September 29, but the Solicitor General has obtained an extension until October 29.  One can read the Jurisdictional Statement of the plaintiffs at www.apportionment.us.

First Circuit Hears New Hampshire Presidential Substitution Case on November 2

September 30th, 2010

The First Circuit will hear Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner on November 2, at 9:30 a.m., in Boston.  This is the case that challenges New Hampshire’s refusal to allow unqualified parties to use a stand-in presidential candidate on a candidate petition, and later substitute the actual presidential nominee.  It also challenges the state’s policy of not providing any name protection for unqualified parties.

November 2, is, of course, election day as well.

Delaware Supreme Court Will Hear Fusion Lawsuit Filed by Libertarians, After Election

September 30th, 2010

The Delaware Supreme Court has set a briefing schedule in McVay v Department of Elections for Kent County, number 528(2010).  The opening brief is due October 25, 2010.  The schedule is such that the case will be decided after the November 2, 2010 election.  The case had been filed by a Libertarian nominee for the State House of Representatives, William McVay.  He had tried to run in the major party primaries for the same office, but the major parties objected, and he was not permitted to run in those primaries.

Delaware permits fusion, and Delaware has no law making McVay’s filing illegal.  The lower state court seemed to feel the major parties have an implied right to exclude candidates from their own primaries.

Chicago Tribune Endorses Green Party Legislative Nominee

September 29th, 2010

On September 29, the Chicago Tribune endorsed Jeremy Karpen, Green Party nominee for Illinois State House, 39th district, in Chicago.  See this story from GreenPartyWatch.  Karpen and the Democratic nominee, incumbent Maria Antonia “Toni” Berrios, are the only two candidates on the ballot.  They were also the only two candidates on the ballot in November 2008, when Karpen received 20.84% of the vote.

Conservative Party Names Carl Paladino as its Gubernatorial Nominee

September 29th, 2010

On the evening of September 29, the New York Conservative Party nominated Carl Paladino as its gubernatorial nominee.  See this story.  Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for the link.

Rhode Island Supreme Court Declines to Hear Lawsuit by Republican who Wants Party’s Lieutenant Governorship Nomination

September 29th, 2010

On September 29, the Rhode Island Supreme Court said it won’t hear Russo v Mollis, su-10-339.  This is the case filed by the Republican candidate who placed second in this year’s primary for Lieutenant Governor.  The winning Republican withdrew from the general election race after the primary was over, and endorsed independent candidate Robert Healey.  The second-place finisher in that Republican primary, Kara Russo, then filed her lawsuit directly with the State Supreme Court, alleging that even though the Republican Party doesn’t want to have a nominee for Lieutenant Governor, it must have one.

Texas to Hold Three-Party Gubernatorial Debate

September 29th, 2010

Major Texas newspapers and a TV station are sponsoring a gubernatorial debate on October 19.  The Democratic, Libertarian and Green Party nominees have accepted.  The Republican nominee says he won’t attend unless the Democratic nominee releases his old income tax returns.  See this story.  Thanks to GreenPartyWatch for the link.

9th Circuit Sets Hearing Date in Montana Ballot Access Case

September 29th, 2010

The 9th circuit will hear oral arguments in Kelly v McCulloch, 10-35174, on November 5, 2010, in Portland, Oregon.  This is the case filed in 2008 against the March petition deadline for non-presidential independent candidates.  The non-presidential independent candidate petition deadline in Montana had been in June (simultaneous with the primary) until 2007, when the legislature moved it to March.  The U.S. District Court had ruled that the plaintiffs lack standing, so this case hasn’t had a ruling on the merits yet.  This is an ACLU case.

Montana is one of only two states in which no ballot access law that affects minor parties or independent candidates has every been held unconstitutional, or unlawful.  The other such state is New Hampshire.

State Court in Maine Upholds Requirement that Petitions Must be Physically Transported to Town Clerks

September 29th, 2010

On September 28, a state Superior Court upheld Maine’s requirement that petitions must be physically sent to each town clerk by the candidate or group that is circulating a petition.  An independent candidate for Governor, Alex Hammer, had collected the needed 4,000 valid signatures to be on the ballot, but to save money, energy, and time, he had scanned each set of petitions at high resolution, and e-mailed them to the various town clerks.  See this story.  The case is Hammer v Office of the Secretary of State, Penobscot County, AP2010-15.

Several New England states continue to force petitioning individuals and groups to file their petitions with each town, and then collect them and physically transport them to the Secretary of State.  This procedure is hopelessly out-of-date, because the Help America Vote Act requires each state elections office to have its own list of all the registered voters in that state.

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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.