“Medill Reports” Carries Story About WTTW Exclusionary Policy on Chicago Debates

January 28th, 2011

Medill Reports is an on-line publication, prepared by graduate journalism students at Northwestern University. This article in Medill Reports describes the habit of WTTW-TV to host debates, but to exclude some ballot-listed candidates. On January 17, the TV station, which receives substantial funding from the government, hosted a TV debate for four of the candidates for Mayor of Chicago, although six candidates are on the ballot. The article also mentions that WTTW is being sued for a similar discriminatory policy last year, when it hosted a general election gubernatorial debate and invited only the two major party nominees. Thanks to Christina Tobin for the link.



West Virginia Bill for a Primary in the Special Gubernatorial vote Passes Committee

January 28th, 2011

On January 28, the West Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee passed SB 261, which provides for a June 20 primary for Governor this year, in the special gubernatorial election that will be held in October. If the bill fails to become law, there will be no primary and the three qualified parties will choose a nominee in conventions.

Montana Bill for All-Mail Ballots Fails in House

January 28th, 2011

On Friday, January 28, the Montana House defeated HB 130 by a vote of 42-57. This is the bill to provide for all-mail ballots. The outcome was a surprise, because the previous day, the same bill had passed a preliminary vote by a comfortable vote. See this story about the Thursday vote. There don’t seem to be any news stories yet about the Friday vote. Thanks to Mike Fellows for this news. UPDATE: the Montana mainstream press has finally reported this news. For example, see this story.

Connecticut Ballot Access Bill

January 28th, 2011

Connecticut Senator Andrew Maynard (D-Stonington) has introduced Proposed Bill 778, which cuts the number of signatures for statewide and U.S. House candidates, in the general election, down to 1,000 signatures. Current law requires 7,500 signatures for statewide candidates, and signatures equal to 1% for U.S. House candidates, which is always close to 3,000 signatures in midterm years and 2,400 in presidential years. The bill was introduced at the request of the Libertarian Party. In 2008, Connecticut was one of the five states in which the Libertarian Party was unable to place Bob Barr on the ballot. The other states in which Barr didn’t appear were West Virginia (which has since reduced its signature requirement), Louisiana, Maine, and Oklahoma (where a bill is pending to reduce the signature requirement).

Thanks to Marc Montoni for this news.

Illinois Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Rahm Emanuel

January 27th, 2011

On January 27, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Rahm Emanuel meets the definition of “resident”, for purposes of running for Mayor in the February 22 election. Two justices did not join in the majority opinion, but they agreed with the outcome. See this story.

Sixth Circuit Allows Ohio Provisional Ballots to be Counted

January 27th, 2011

Still undecided is a local partisan judicial race in Hamilton County, Ohio. The race is very close and the outcome probably depends on whether almost 200 disputed provisional ballots can be counted. On January 27, the 6th circuit issued an order, generally upholding the U.S. District Court’s order that these ballots should be counted. They were cast by voters who were voting in the wrong precinct, but this was a case when several precincts were voting in the same building, and elections officials caused the error. The case is Hunter v Hamilton County Board of Elections. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Five Hawaii Democratic Legislators Introduce Bill to Let President Obama’s Birth Certificate be Sold for $100

January 27th, 2011

Five Democratic state representatives in Hawaii have introduced HB 1116. It waives the standard rule for privacy, concerning birth certificates, for individuals of “civic prominence.” The bill defines these such a person as “a person who is a candidate for, or elected to, a public office that requires the person to be a United States citizen, either natural born or naturalized, to hold the public office for which they are a candidate or to which they have been elected.” The fee for this birth certificate would be $100. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for this news.

Texas Democratic State Senator Finds Funny Way to Tweak Proponents of Photo-ID at the Polls

January 27th, 2011

As the Texas legislature debates whether to pass a bill to require voters at the polls to show a government-photo ID, a Democratic State Senator had some fun, and simultaneously made a serious objection to the idea behind the bill. See this. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Bills in At Least Nine States to Require Birth Certificates for Presidential Candidates

January 27th, 2011

Bills have been introduced in at least nine states to provide that certain presidential candidates may not be listed on ballots unless a birth certificate is submitted to elections officials. Some of these bills only relate to presidential candidates running in a presidential primary. Others relate to presidential candidates on the November ballot.

Bills that only relate to candidates running in a presidential primary are: Indiana SB 114; and Oklahoma SB 91 and SB 384.

Bills that cover all candidates who seek to run in the general election are: Connecticut SB 391; Nebraska LB 654; Oklahoma SB 540; and Texas HB 295 and HB 529.

Bills that cover some candidates in the general election, but not all of them, are: Arizona HB 2544; Georgia HB 37; Missouri HB 283; Montana HB 205.

When the bills attempt to cover nominees of qualified parties in general elections, they vary according to who is supposed to furnish the birth certificate. Connecticut’s SB 391 is the strangest, because it puts the requirement in the passive voice, so as to avoid saying who is supposed to furnish the document. It says the bill “requires the Secretary of State to be presented with an original birth certificate.” Nebraska’s LB 654 requires the officers of the national party nominating convention to furnish the certificate. Arizona’s HB 2544, and Georgia’s HB 37, require the national committee of the party to furnish it. Missouri’s HB 283 requires the state party officers to furnish it. Texas’ HB 295 and HB 529 require the presidential candidate to furnish it. Oklahoma’s SB 540 doesn’t say who is to furnish it, but says any voter can challenge the ballot status of a presidential candidate’s citizenship.

A strange bill in Maine, LD 34, requires independent presidential candidates, but no other presidential candidates, to submit a birth certificate. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for news about these bills.

Chicago Tribune Carries Op-Ed Supporting Rahm Emanuel’s Position in Lawsuit

January 27th, 2011

The January 27 Chicago Tribune has this op-ed, suggesting the Illinois State Appeals Court was mistaken when it ruled that Rahm Emanuel does not meet the duration of residency requirement to run for Mayor of Chicago. The authors of the op-ed are attorneys who openly acknowledge that they have been active in support of Emanuel’s candidacy and/or his legal case.

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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.