U.S. District Court in New Jersey Won’t Enjoin 4-Year Residency Requirement to Run for State Senate

April 28th, 2011

On April 28, U.S. District Court Judge Noel Hillman, a Bush Jr. appointee, refused to grant injunctive relief to a candidate for New Jersey State Senate, Carl Lewis. The New Jersey Constitution sets a 4-year residency requirement in the state, in order to run for State Senate. Candidate Carl Lewis, who is famous for his success in Olympic track events and who wants to appear on the June 2011 Democratic primary ballot, argued that the New Jersey constitutional provision violates the U.S. Constitution, but he did not prevail. Here is the 2-page order. Here is a newspaper story about the decision. Lewis also has a lawsuit in state court, arguing that he meets the residency requirement. Thanks to Oliver Hall and Heidi Fuller for this news.



Minnesota Committee Passes National Popular Vote Plan Bill

April 28th, 2011

On April 28, the Minnesota House Government Operations & Elections Committee passed HF 495, the bill for the National Popular Vote Plan. The committee has a Republican majority, but only one legislator voted against the bill.

Arizona Governor Signs Bill to List Vice-Presidential Nominees on Arizona Ballot

April 28th, 2011

On April 27, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2335. It says that vice-presidential nominees’ names should be printed on November ballots. As a result, North Dakota is the only state which does not print the names of vice-presidential nominees on November ballots.

HB 2335 had started out as a bill to also delete the names of presidential elector candidates from the November ballot, but the idea of removing the names of presidential elector candidates from the ballot faced political opposition. Many candidates for presidential elector, for the major parties, are state legislators, and they apparently enjoy seeing their names on the ballot in their role as presidential elector candidates.

Tennessee Senate Again Postpones Consideration of Ballot Access Bill

April 28th, 2011

On April 28, the Tennessee Senate, which had been set to debate the ballot access bill that day, postponed that bill until May 5. The Senate bill, SB 935, has seven amendments pending, some of which lower the number of signatures needed for a new party to get on the ballot. One amendment proposes 10,000 signatures, and another amendment proposes 6,000. This is the sixth time the Senate has postponed consideration of the bill. It was originally on the consent calendar for March 21, but was removed. Since then it has been scheduled for the regular calendar on March 24, March 29, April 7, April 14, and April 28, but each time it was postponed to a future day.

The House has already passed a companion bill that leaves the number of signatures at 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote (40,042 signatures). The legislature must pass some bill on this subject this year, because the existing law was held unconstitutional last year.

South Carolina Republican Party Asks for Clarification in Open Primary Lawsuit

April 28th, 2011

As noted earlier, on March 30, a U.S. District Court Judge in South Carolina ruled that the Republican Party cannot close its primary to non-members, on the grounds that the party is always free to nominate by convention if it wishes. On April 27, the Republican Party filed a brief with the U.S. District Court, asking for clarification of the March 30 ruling. The party believes that the March 30 ruling is unclear on whether the challenged law is constitutional on its face, or constitutional as applied. Also, the party makes the case that the ruling is unclear on whether it is just a denial of injunctive relief, or a judgment that the case is now over in that court. A response from the state is due on May 16. Until these ambiguities are settled, it is not possible to know if the party will appeal. The case is The Greenville County Republican Party v State, 6:10-cv-1407.

Indiana Election Bill Amended so that Democrats May Soon Gain Indiana Secretary of State Position

April 28th, 2011

One of the Indiana legislature’s omnibus election law bills has been amended again, so that now, if current Republican Secretary of State Charlie White is removed from office, the office will go to the Democratic nominee. White is fairly likely to be removed soon, because he registered at a precinct at which he didn’t live, and also voted in that precinct. The existing law, which would continue to be in place if the bill passes, says the office goes to the candidate who came in second, which, of course, is the Democratic nominee.

HB 1242 had been amended in the Senate to change the law on succession, and to say that when most state offices become vacant, the Governor may fill the vacancy. But on April 26 the House had rejected that amendment. Now, the bill’s author, Representative Kathy Richardson, is amending the bill again to keep the new succession rules but to make them effective at a point in the future, so that the change won’t apply to the 2010 Secretary of State race. See this story. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Michigan Supreme Court Won’t Hear Socialist Party Ballot Access Case

April 27th, 2011

On April 25, the Michigan Supreme Court issued this order, refusing to hear Socialist Party of Michigan v Secretary of State, 142163. The party had complained that Michigan requires almost twice as many signatures for a new party to get on the ballot, than it requires votes for an old party to remain on the ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court had said in Williams v Rhodes in 1968 that states cannot discriminate against new parties, relative to old ones. That decision struck down the Ohio ballot access law for new parties, partly because Ohio required more signatures for a new party to get on than for an old party to remain on.

Oklahoma House Passes “Birth Certificate” Bill for Presidential Candidates

April 27th, 2011

On the evening of April 27, the Oklahoma House passed SB 91, which requires candidates in presidential primaries to submit a copy of a birth certificate. The bill has been amended since it left the Senate, so it will need to return to the Senate. The vote in the House was 77-13, which means that some Democrats voted for the bill.

Fred Karger Fights to Gain Admittance to South Carolina Republican Presidential Debate

April 27th, 2011

Fred Karger, a Republican candidate for President, has been excluded from the South Carolina Republican Party’s upcoming presidential debate, even though he is willing to pay the $25,000 and even though he has filed as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission. Apparently the party has refused to permit him into the debate because of the rule that all candidates must be at 1% in a poll. However, Karger has submitted evidence of polls in which he does have at least 1%. See this story.

Ninth Circuit Will Rehear Case on Whether Arizona can Require Proof of Citizenship when Voters Register

April 27th, 2011

On April 27, the 9th circuit agree to a rehearing en banc in Gonzalez v State of Arizona, 08-17094. This is the case in which the original panel in the 9th circuit had ruled 2-1 that the federal government’s “Motor Voter Law” precludes states from requiring voters to attach proof of citizenship when they register to vote. The federal law required states to recognize postcard registration forms, unless that state has election-day registration. Arizona’s law, requiring naturalized citizens to attach a copy of their naturalization certificate, seems by many to defeat the purpose of the postcard registration forms, which is to make it easy to register to vote.

The original 9th circuit panel include retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Sometimes retired U.S. Supreme Court justices sit in panels of lower courts. Thanks to Howard Bashman’s How Appealing blog 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.