Florida Newspaper Mentions Virgil Goode as a Potential Presidential Nominee

February 26th, 2011

The February 26 issue of the Sunshine News mentions the possibility that former Congressman Virgil Goode may be the Constitution Party’s presidential nominee here. The mention is at the bottom of the “Presidential Derby” column written by Kevin Derby. The Sunshine News is an electronic newspaper in Florida.



Pennsylvania Elections Bureau Finally Releases November 2010 Write-in Vote

February 26th, 2011

On February 25, the Pennsylvania Bureau of Commissions, Elections & Legislation released the write-in results from the November 2, 2010 election. However, the information does not seem to be on the Bureau’s web page yet. It appears that eight counties did not tally any write-ins at all for any office. They are Clarion, Clinton, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mifflin, Montgomery, Perry, and Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania is the only large state that has no procedure for write-in candidates who want their vote tallied to file a declaration of write-in candidacy. All write-in votes are valid votes in Pennsylvania, and the state admits that the law requires that all write-ins be counted. The Pennsylvania Constitution protects write-in votes. In 1905, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said, “Unless there was such provision to enable the voter not satisfied to vote any ticket on the ballot, or for any names appearing on it, to make up an entire ticket of his own choice, the election as to him would not be equal, for he would not be able to express his own individual will in his own way.” Oughton v Black, 61 A. 346, at page 348.

Abel Maldonado Files Paperwork with FEC to Run for Congress in 2012

February 25th, 2011

Former California Lieutenant Governor Abel Maldonado has filed paperwork to run for Congress in 2012, according to this news story.

Trial in Doe v Reed, Petition Privacy Case, Set for September 27, 2011

February 25th, 2011

A U.S. District Court in Tacoma, Washington, will conduct a trial in Doe v Reed starting on September 27, 2011. This the case filed in July 2009 over whether people who signed one particular referendum petition are entitled to keep their names and addresses from being made public. The U.S. District Court had ruled that the First Amendment protects privacy for petition signers, but the 9th circuit had reversed. Then, on June 24, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court had issued an opinion saying that there is no such privacy right in general, but that if the proponents can show that there is a reasonable chance that they would be harassed, then they are entitled to privacy.

Thus, the trial will be to determine whether the signers of this one particular referendum petition qualify for privacy. The subject of this particular referendum was whether or not to rescind a bill passed by the Washington state legislature for civil unions for same-sex couples. The referendum was held in 2009 and the voters upheld the civil unions law.

In a sense, the people who filed the lawsuit have already partially won, because while the case is pending, their names and addresses continue to be withheld. As time passes, fewer and fewer people will even remember or care who signed the petition.

Idaho Bill Signed, Moves Primary One Week Earlier

February 25th, 2011

On February 23, Idaho Governor Butch Otter signed HB 60, the Secretary of State’s first omnibus election law bill this session. The bill moves the primary for all office from the fourth week in May to the third week in May, along with lots of other minor election law changes.

The Secretary of State plans a second omnibus bill, to be introduced soon, that will lower the number of signatures needed for an independent presidential candidate. The existing law was declared unconstitutional last year and the state did not appeal. This second omnibus election law bill will contain many other unrelated election law provisions.

Arizona Legislature Defeats Amendment to Let Southern Part of State Secede

February 24th, 2011

On February 24, the Arizona legislature voted down an amendment to a bill that would have let Pima County secede from Arizona and become the state of “Baja Arizona.” See this story.

Hearing Set in 8th Circuit on South Dakota Petitioner Residency Issue

February 24th, 2011

The 8th circuit will hear oral arguments in Constitution Party of South Dakota v Nelson, 10-2910, on March 15 in Minneapolis, at 9 a.m. This is the case that challenges a South Dakota law that prohibits out-of-state circulators for candidate petitions, and also for initiative petitions. Oddly, the law does not prohibit out-of-state circulators to work on a petition to qualify a new party.

The lawsuit was filed in 2010. The Constitution Party was already ballot-qualified. But it needed experienced petitioners to complete the petition to get its gubernatorial candidate on its own primary ballot. The law required the candidate to get 250 signatures, and only registered party members could sign. The party only had about 320 registered members in the state. It is obviously extremely difficult to get the signatures of 250 people when there are only 320 eligible signers, especially in a state as physically large as South Dakota. Yet the state did not permit the party to hire out-of-state circulators, even though it would have been legal for out-of-state circulators to work on the petition to put the party on the ballot. As a result, the party couldn’t place its own gubernatorial nominee on its own primary ballot, and therefore it had no candidate on the November ballot. And because South Dakota requires a party to poll 2.5% for Governor, the party went off the ballot.

New York Parties Begin Choosing Nominee for Special Election, U.S. House 26th District

February 24th, 2011

New York’s political parties will choose a nominee for U.S. House, 26th district, by committee meetings of party leaders. The Republican Party has already chosen its nominee. See this story. The Conservative Party might nominate someone different from the Republican Party’s nominee.

Britain Starts to See Campaign Ads for and Against Instant-Runoff Voting

February 24th, 2011

British voters are starting to see advertising on the May 5 referendum on whether to use Instant-Runoff Voting to elect members of the House of Commons. See this BBC story. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Hearing Set for North Carolina Ballot Access Bill

February 24th, 2011

A subcommittee of the North Carolina House Election Law and Campaign Finance Committee will take testimony about HB 32, on March 2, Wednesday. The hearing will be at 1 p.m. in room 643 of the Legislative Office Building. The subcommittee is not expected to act on the bill at that meeting, but to provide a means for the public and the subcommittee to exchange views and information. HB 32 is the bill that eases ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates.

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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.