U.S. District Court in Washington State Postpones Trial in “Top-Two” Lawsuit

October 31st, 2010

On October 29, U.S. District Court Judge John Coughenour, on his own motion, postponed the start of the trial in Washington State Republican Party v Washington State Grange from November 15, 2010, until January 18, 2011.  This is the case over the constitutionality of the top-two system.



North Carolina Counties Using iVotronic Vote-Counting Machines Must Tell Each Voter to Double-Check Machine Accuracy

October 31st, 2010

On Friday, October 29, the state chair of the North Carolina Republican Party filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina State Board of Elections, complaining about the accuracy of the iVotronic vote-counting machines that are used in 35 counties.  The lawsuit is Fetzer v Bartlett, U.S. District Court, eastern district, 4:10cv-158-H.

On Saturday, October 30, a hearing was held, and the parties settled.  The State Board of Elections promises to instruct all polling place officials to orally tell each voter to read a sign, titled “Voter Alert.”  The sign says, “Touchscreen voting machines are sensitive.  A summary page will appear at the end of your ballot so you can review the choices selected.  CAREFULLY (underlined and in bold print) review your ballot to make sure your vote is accurately cast.”

Also, the Board has instructed all local election officials to preserve all programming materials, records and audit logs from the iVotronic machines.

The Democratic Party has the top line on all North Carolina ballots.  This is because of a state law that says parties with at least 5% of the voter registration are put on the ballot in alphabetical order.  Because only the Democratic and Republican Parties have 5% of the voter registration, and because “D” comes before “R” in the alphabet, this means that all North Carolina ballots always have the Democrats at the top, and Republicans are on the second line.  If a voter intends to vote for Republicans, and touches the touch-screen in the area between the Democratic and Republican lines, the machine interprets that as a vote for the party on the top line, even though that voter intended the party on the second line.

Pennsylvania Ballot Access Rally at State Capitol Draws Some Press Attention

October 30th, 2010

On October 29, Pennsylvanians who want ballot access reform held a rally at the State Capitol.  State Senator Mike Folmer, sponsor of one of this session’s ballot access reform bills, addressed the group.  See this story.  Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Arkansas Republican Nominee Hopes Arkansas Supreme Court Will Reinstate His Candidacy

October 30th, 2010

On October 29, Tim Fite, Republican nominee for Arkansas State House, 83rd district, asked the State Supreme Court to rule that he is entitled to be a candidate in next week’s election.  On October 27 a Pulaski County Circuit Court had ruled that he is ineligible to run, because of a misdemeanor conviction in 1984.  Because ballots have already been printed, if the State Supreme Court does not intervene, voters will see a notice at the polls that votes for Hite will not be counted.  See this story.

The incumbent, a Republican, is not running for re-election.  If Hite cannot run, the Democratic nominee, Leslee Post, will be unopposed.

Alabama Lower Court Dismisses Case to Remove Republican Gubernatorial Nominee from Ballot

October 30th, 2010

Late on October 29, a lower state court in Alabama dismissed a lawsuit that had been filed by a voter, for the purpose of removing Robert Bentley from the November 2 ballot.  Bentley is the Republican gubernatorial nominee.  The voter had charged that Bentley had broken campaign finance laws.  See this story.

Alaska Supreme Court Issues Revised Order, Now Says Regulation Against Showing List of Write-in Candidates to Voters is Unlawful

October 30th, 2010

On October 29, the Alaska Supreme Court issued a revised order in State of Alaska v Alaska Democratic Party and Alaska Republican Party, S-14054.  This is the case over whether elections officials are permitted to show the list of declared write-in candidates to voters at the polls.  The new 7-page order says that the regulation against showing that list to voters is unlawful, because state election law 15.15.240 says that voters who ask for assistance may receive it.  Laws, of course, trump regulations.

The October 29 order also alters the earlier (October 27) order, by canceling the earlier directive to segregate the ballots of voters who had asked to see the list of write-in candidates.  Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for the link.

A Dittman Research and Communications Poll released October 29 shows:  Lisa Murkowski (write-in) 37%; Joe Miller (Republican) 27%; Scott McAdams (Democrat) 23%; other and undecided 13%.

Richard Whitney Files Strong Lawsuit Against PBS TV Station on Debate Exclusion

October 30th, 2010

On October 29, Richard Whitney, Green Party nominee for Illinois Governor, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago against WTTW, one of Chicago’s Public TV Stations, for sponsoring a debate and inviting only the Democratic and Republican nominees for Governor.  The case is Whitney v Window to the World Communications, 2010-cv-7003.

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arkansas Educational TV Commission v Forbes that public television stations may not host debates and then exclude candidates who have a real campaign.  The Court said candidates whose campaigns have generated appreciable public interest cannot be excluded.  In the Forbes case, the Court ruled against the plaintiff-candidate, an independent congressional candidate in Arkansas, because he had raised almost no money, had no campaign headquarters outside his home, and few voters appeared interested in him.  None of those things are true for Whitney’s campaign.

Alabama State Court Hears Lawsuit that Attempts to Remove Republican Gubernatorial Candidate from the Ballot

October 29th, 2010

On October 29, a lower state court in Alabama heard a lawsuit filed by a voter, alleging that the Republican nominee for Governor of Alabama, Robert Bentley, should be removed from the ballot (or the election postponed) because the candidate allegedly broke campaign finance laws.  See this story.

Connecticut State Court Won’t Hear Republican Lawsuit to Remove Democratic Nominee for Attorney General Until After Election

October 29th, 2010

A lower Connecticut state court will not hear the Republican Party attempt to disqualify the Democratic nominee for Attorney General, George Jepsen, until after the election.  See this story.  For earlier coverage about this lawsuit, see here.

New California Registration Data: All Political Parties Except Democrats Increase Their Share

October 29th, 2010

On October 29, the California Secretary of State released new registration data, as of October 18.  This was the first data since the September 3 tally.

The percentages for each qualified party, and for the Reform Party as well, are below.  The first percentage is the September 3 tally; the second is the new tally:

Democratic:   44.32%, 44.08%

Republican:  30.94%, 31.02%

American Independent:  2.35%, 2.39%

Green:  .658%, .659%

Libertarian:  .51%, .53%

Peace & Freedom:  .333%, .334%

Reform:  .139%, .141%

Independents and others, 20.74%, 21.21%

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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.