California Appeals Court Says Candidate in Southern California Special Election May File Amicus in Field v Bowen

January 31st, 2011

Field v Bowen is the lawsuit pending in the California Court of Appeals over two particular aspects of Proposition 14 and its implementing legislation. The case challenges the policy that says candidates who are members of qualified parties may have a party label on the ballot, but candidates who are members of unqualified parties may not. On January 31, the California Court of Appeals said that Michael Chamness may not intervene in the case, but the Court invited him to submit an amicus curiae brief, which he will do and which will contain the same information that would have been in his briefs if he had intervened.

Michael Chamness is registered in the Coffee Party, and he is on the ballot in the upcoming special election for State Senate in the 28th district. The ballot will say “no party preference” next to his name, even though Chamness wants “My party preference is the Coffee Party.”



West Virginia House Committee Also Passes Bill for Primary in Special Gubernatorial Election

January 31st, 2011

On January 31, the West Virginia House Committee unanimously passed HB 2853, which sets up a primary for this year’s special gubernatorial election, and also sets rules for independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties. Policy committees in both houses have now passed bills to hold primaries. If no bill passes, the three qualified parties will nominate by convention. The Senate bill is SB 261. The two versions differ, and one of the differences is that the House bill requires a smaller number of signatures for minor party and independent candidates.

Bill for British Referendum on Vote Systems Makes Headway

January 31st, 2011

The British government desires to hold a ballot question in May 2011 on whether to use Instant Runoff Voting for British elections for House of Commons, but the bill authorizing that vote has been delayed in the House of Lords. According to this story, the Lords are likely to approve the bill on Wednesday, February 2, although it is not certain. The British term for Instant Runoff Voting is the Alternative Vote. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

All Briefs Now Filed in 8th Circuit in North Dakota Ballot Access Case

January 31st, 2011

On January 28, the North Dakota Libertarian Party filed this Reply Brief in North Dakota Libertarian Party v Jaeger, in the 8th circuit. This is the case that challenges that state’s ballot access rules for minor party legislative candidates. The law requires the legislative candidates of all qualified parties to run in a party primary, and in that primary, they must poll a number of votes equal to between approximately 8% and 15% of the total number of people who cast a ballot in all party primaries put together.

Because very few voters ever choose a minor party primary ballot, the law effectively prevents minor parties from ever placing candidates for the legislature on the November ballot. No minor party legislative candidate has appeared in the November election in North Dakota since 1976.

Peace & Freedom Party Candidate Files Lawsuit Against New California Rules for Petitions in Lieu of Filing Fee

January 31st, 2011

On January 31, Peace & Freedom Party candidate Daniel Frederick filed a lawsuit in state court in Sacramento, contesting the interpretation and constitutionality of the California Secretary of State’s rules for candidates who choose to file a petition in lieu of a filing fee, rather than paying the filing fee. The lawsuit especially contests the rules for special elections, which frequently give candidates only one or two days after the Governor has called the special election to complete these petitions. Furthermore, that problem (which is an old problem in California, for special elections) is compounded by the severe increase in the number of signatures in lieu of filing fee, caused by the Secretary of State’s interpretation of Proposition 14 and its implementing legislation.

In the past, candidates who are members of small qualified parties needed 150 signatures in lieu of a filing fee for any partisan office, but now they need 1,500 to run for Assembly. The case is Frederick v Bowen, 34-2011-80000773-cu-wm-gds. It will be heard by Judge Kinney in Sacramento Superior Court. Frederick wishes to run for the Assembly in the 4th district. A special election is being held there because the seat is vacant. It is vacant because Assemblymember Ted Gaines, who won that seat in November 2010, recently resigned because earlier this year he won a special election to the State Senate in the First District. That seat, in turn, had been vacant because State Senator Dave Cox had died on July 13, 2010, in the middle of his term.

New York Credico Case Moves Forward

January 31st, 2011

The pending federal lawsuit against New York state’s discriminatory policy on fusion is beginning to move ahead. The case is Credico v New York State Board of Elections, in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, cv10-4555. In 2010, Randy Credico was the U.S. Senate nominee of both the Libertarian Party, and the Anti-Prohibition Party. New York state refused to list him twice on the ballot, even though New York state listed many other candidates of the nominees of two, or three, or sometimes even four, parties. New York won’t list someone twice if he or she is the nominee of two unqualified parties.

On January 28, the state answered the complaint. The briefing should be complete by the end of March. The case had not moved in three months because the state had asked for, and received, more time to file its answer.

Republican Delegates from Utah Enclave Lose Ability to Help Choose New Republican Legislator

January 29th, 2011

Utah’s Constitution says that when there is a vacancy in the legislature, the Governor fills the vacancy from a list submitted by the committee of the political party that had last held the seat. The Republican committee that represents the 57th State House is voting on January 29 on whom to recommend to fill the vacancy.

The reason the 57th district seat is vacant is that the Republican elected on November 2, 2010, Craig A. Frank, was later determined not to live in that district. A mapping error had caused elections officials to assume that Cedar Hills is part of the 57th district, but it isn’t. Because Frank lived in that area, he was forced to resign his seat.

Residents of that enclave who are Republican delegates to the party committee were told that they cannot participate in the meeting to determine a new representative. They sued in state court, arguing that they must be permitted to participate, because they were all mistakenly barred from participating in the other district’s election in November 2010, because of the error. They said that they will have been barred from participating in both districts if they cannot get any relief. But, a court denied them relief. See this story.

New York Conservative Party Unknowingly Nominated a Dead Person for State Senate in 2010

January 28th, 2011

This New York Times story explains that the Conservative Party nominee for State Senate, 31st district, in 2010, was deceased before the party nominated him. Dr. Raphael M. Klapper, of the Bronx, died in May 2010. But during June and July, a petition was circulated to qualify him for the Conservative Party primary. He was dutifully nominated without opposition, and his name appeared on the November 2010 ballot. An investigation is underway to determine how this happened. Most of the district is in Manhattan.

The Conservative Party nominated 55 candidates for the 62 New York State Senate seats last year. They included 47 candidates who were also Republican nominees, one candidate who was also the Democratic nominee, and 7 candidates who weren’t the nominee of any other party. Dr. Klapper was one of the party’s nominees who wasn’t also a major party nominee. In the general election he received 1.62% of the vote. By contrast, in 2008, when the Conservative Party also ran someone in this district who wasn’t a major party nominee, the Conservative nominee only received .74%. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Kansas Bill to Eliminate Presidential Primary

January 28th, 2011

Josh Putnam of Frontloading HQ has this post about a bill introduced in Kansas to abolish the presidential primary. The bill, HB 2126, was introduced at the request of the Secretary of State, in order to save money. Kansas has only actually held presidential primaries twice, in 1980 and 1992. Since then, generally the legislature passes a bill before each presidential election year, suspending the presidential primary for the upcoming election only. But the new bill seems to do away with the presidential primary completely.

Georgia Elections Advisory Council Asks for Comments from Georgians on Election Law

January 28th, 2011

The new Georgia Elections Advisory Council has just put up a web page, which asks Georgians to comment on Georgia election laws. Here is the web page. Thanks to David Shock 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!

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.