U.S. District Court Holds that Maryland Deadline for Overseas Absentee Ballots to be Received is Unconstitutional

October 29th, 2010

On October 29, U.S. District Court Judge Roger W. Titus, a Bush Jr. appointee, held that Maryland’s deadline for overseas absentee ballots to be received, in order to be counted, is unconstitutional.  The deadline is 10 days after the election.  The law also requires the absentee overseas voter to have mailed his or her ballot back to the United States no later than election day, and no one has any quarrel with that requirement.

The judge said that the state must count overseas absentee ballots if they arrive by November 22.  The evidence showed that a substantial number of overseas military ballots, even though mailed by November 2, would not arrive in Maryland by November 12.

The decision rests partly on the 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision Anderson v Celebrezze, in which early petition deadlines for independent presidential candidates were held unconstitutional.  The judge made an analogy between too-early petition deadlines for candidates, and too-early deadlines for voters’ ballots to be received.

Maryland already was sending overseas absentee ballots in mid-September, to conform to a new federal law, but those early ballots only contain federal offices, because the new federal law only covers federal elections.  Maryland was not mailing overseas absentee ballots that contain all offices until October.  Maryland laws prohibits election officials from postally mailing any absentee ballot (foreign or domestic) if that ballot has state offices on it, until after the September primary has been certified.  Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news.



Idaho Holds 5-Candidate Gubernatorial Debate

October 29th, 2010

On October 28, Idaho held a debate for all five candidates on the ballot for Governor.  See this story.  Thanks to Uncovered Politics for the link.

The candidates are Republican nominee Butch Otter, Democrat Keith Allred, Libertarian Ted Dunlap, and independent candidates Jana Kemp and Pro-Life.  The independent candidate whose name on the ballot is Pro-Life was formerly named Marvin Richardson, but some years ago he changed his name.

New Hampshire Libertarians Sue over Ballot Design

October 29th, 2010

On October 28, two Libertarian nominees filed a lawsuit, arguing that the ballot format discriminates against certain candidates and for certain other candidates.  The case is Blevens v Gardner, in Merrimack County Superior Court.  See the party’s web page, explaining the lawsuit.  The case will continue after the election, and is directed against the characteristic of the ballot that does not rotate the names of candidates listed in the “Independent” column.  New Hampshire puts the nominees of unqualified parties, and independent candidates, into a single column on the ballot, headed by the word “independent.”  The lawsuit does not challenge that aspect of the ballot.  It does challenge the fact that the names within that column are not rotated.

In 2006, the New Hampshire Supreme Court had ruled that each candidate must have an equal chance to be listed first.  In response, the state now rotates each of the three columns, but doesn’t rotate candidates within those columns.  This has a far greater impact on candidates who are not Republican or Democratic nominees.

It is possible the complaint will be expanded to cover the point that unqualified parties should have their own party column, just as each qualified party has its own party column.  UPDATE:  the plaintiffs have withdrawn their request for injunctive relief.  The issue of whether the 2010 ballot design is constitutional will be heard in June 2011, after the legislature has been given an opportunity to address the problem.

148 People File as Declared Write-in Candidates for U.S. Senate in Alaska

October 29th, 2010

Politico has this story, that on the last day, over 100 people signed up to be declared write-in candidates for U.S. Senate in Alaska.  The intent is to make the list of declared write-in candidates so long that the list supposedly won’t be useful to Lisa Murkowski.  However, if the list if alphabetized, it will still be useful.

No one with a surname of  “M” and a first name of “Lisa” filed.  Here is the list.  Thanks to Rick Hasen for that link.

This idea spread on a talk show.  It is somewhat similar to an attempt in California in 2003 to encourage people to file for the ballot in the special gubernatorial recall election, by a wealthy individual who was willing to pay the California filing fee.  His motivation was to sabotage the recall, and the recall did end up with a ballot with 135 candidates listed.

Howard Dean Op-Ed in Favor of Instant Runoff Voting

October 29th, 2010

The October 29 issue of the Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader has this op-ed by Howard Dean, advocating Instant Runoff Voting.  Dean is former chair of the Democratic National Committee, and has been advocating IRV for many years.

Nevada Supreme Court Rejects Second Lawsuit to Disqualify Scott Ashjian from Ballot as the “Tea Party” Party Nominee for U.S. Senate

October 29th, 2010

On October 28, the Nevada Supreme Court issued a 6-page opinion in Fasano v Ashjian, 56040, holding the appeal moot.  The case had been filed by Tim Fasano, Independent American Party nominee for U.S. Senate, to remove Scott Ashjian from the November ballot as the Tea Party nominee for U.S. Senate.  The lower court had kept Ashjian on the ballot, and the Nevada Supreme Court said Fasano’s appeal cannot prevail because he waited too long to file his appeal.  Thanks to Glenn Brown for this news.

Fasano had pointed out that Ashjian had signed a declaration of candidacy saying he was registered in the Tea Party, when in fact he did not change his registration from “Republican” to “Tea” for several hours afterwards.  The lower court had ruled in favor of Ashjian by finding that a de minimus violation.

This is the second case in which the Nevada Supreme Court had ruled against attempts to get Ashjian off the ballot.  The other case, which was potentially very bad for ballot access, had been filed by Citizen Outreach, a conservative group, and had argued that the Secretary of State had erroneously put the Tea Party on the ballot and that new parties need two separate petitions, one signed by 250 voters due early in the year, and then a separate petition signed by over 9,000 voters due in the late spring.

Two Minnesota Organizations Want their Members to be Able to Wear Buttons and Shirts at Polls

October 28th, 2010

On October 28, several Minnesota organizations jointly filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, seeking the ability to have their members, who would be both ordinary voters and poll watchers, wear certain kinds of buttons or shirts.  Specifically, Election Integrity Watch wants its activists to be allowed to wear buttons that say “Please I.D. Me”, whether they are at the polls briefly in order to vote, or whether they are serving as election monitors.

Also, members of the Northstar Tea Party want their members to be allowed to wear shirts that say “Tea Party Patriots” when they vote.

The lawsuit asks that a Minnesota election law either be declared unconstitutional, or construed to allow these buttons and shirts.  The law says, “A political badge, political button, or other political insignia may not be worn at or about the polling place on primary or election day.”  The complaint points out that there is no Tea Party on the ballot in Minnesota, and that the buttons and shirts do not relate to any particular candidate or ballot measure that is on the ballot.  See this story.  The lawsuit is Minnesota Majority v Mansky, 10-cv-4401.

Field Poll Shows California Gubernatorial “Other” Candidates at 5%

October 28th, 2010

On October 28, the Field Poll released a gubernatorial poll for California.  The poll did not mention all 6 candidates on the ballot.  It merely asked respondents if they favor the Democratic nominee, the Republican nominee, or a minor party nominee.  5% of respondents said they favor a minor party nominee and 7% are undecided.  The four California minor party gubernatorial nominees are debating each other on October 28 on the campus of California State University, Sacramento, at 1 p.m.  The two major party nominees were invited but are not expected to attend.

U.S. Department of Justice Wants More Information about California’s “Top-Two” Before it Grants Clearance

October 28th, 2010

California is one of the states that must ask for U.S. Justice Department approval before it alters its election laws.  On August 16, 2010, California had forwarded a copy of the new “top-two” law that goes into effect in 2011, to the Voting Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department.

On October 25, the Voting Rights Section replied to California, with questions about how “top-two” will affect ethnic and racial minorities.  The questions are limited to past elections in the four covered counties, Kings, Merced, Monterey and Yuba Counties.  After the state answers the questions, the Voting Rights Section has 60 days to evaluate the answers.  “Top-two” cannot be into effect until this process is completed.  Thanks to Rob Richie for this news.

Louisiana Holds 6-Candidate U.S. Senate Debate

October 28th, 2010

On October 27, Louisiana held a televised U.S. Senate debate in which six candidates participated.  See this story.  The debate sponsors invited each political party nominee, and also invited anyone who had either held elected office recently, or who had raised or spent $50,000.  That enable two of the independent candidates to be invited.  Participating were Republican incumbent David Vitter, Democrat Charlie Melancon, Libertarian Randall Hayes, Reform Party nominee William McShan, and independent candidates Mike Spears and Ernest Wooton.

Anyone can watch the debate using this link, which is at the TV station’s web page, wdsu.com.

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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!

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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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  • 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]

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