Mayor Bloomberg Will Testify in Criminal Trial Involving Funds Channelled Through Independence Party

August 31st, 2011

The New York Post reports that Mayor Michael Bloomberg will be a witness in the trial that opens September 12, in the matter of the money that Bloomberg contributed to the Independence Party and which the Independence Party then passed on to John Haggerty. Haggerty was to use the money to help the Bloomberg re-election campaign in 2009, but according to the indictment, he did not use the money on the campaign, but diverted it to his own use. Thanks to the Independent View for the link.



Arizona Republic Columnist Thinks Arizona Lawsuit Against Voting Rights Act May Win

August 31st, 2011

Robert Robb, columnist for the Arizona Republic, the daily newspaper of Phoenix, writes here that Arizona has a good chance of winning its recently filed lawsuit against part of the federal Voting Rights Act. The case, filed last week, is State of Arizona v Holder, U.S. District Court, Washington D.C., 11-1559. It has been assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee. It argues that the pre-clearance parts of the Act are unconstitutional. The law has been upheld many times in the past, but past precedents may no longer control, as the column explains.

Americans Elect Web Page Posts New National Signature Count

August 31st, 2011

During the early summer of 2011, the Americans Elect web page posted a new national signature count for its various statewide petitions every week. This national total represented the sum of how many signatures had been collected around the nation on its various state petitions. But the July 28 posting of 1,747,557 had not been increased since then, during August. But on August 30 the web page showed a new national total, 1,755,707, an increase of only 8,150 signatures during August.

Concord, New Hampshire Newspaper Carries Op-Ed on Furor over Republican State Chair’s Signing Libertarian Ballot Access Petition

August 31st, 2011

Howard Wilson, a long-time Libertarian Party activist in New Hampshire, has this op-ed in the Monitor, the daily newspaper of Concord, New Hampshire. Wilson points out that some of the Republican Party officials who are criticizing the state chair of the Republican Party for signing a Libertarian Party ballot access petition, themselves signed petitions to put Libertarians on the 2010 ballot. The op-ed is also interesting for its details about petitioning in New Hampshire.

In New Hampshire, only a single petition is permitted on any particular petition sheet. This explains what is meant when Wilson says the petition was returned to the Republican Party state chair. It is a way for him to have withdrawn his signature.

California Legislators Consider Moving all Initiatives away from Primary Election Dates

August 31st, 2011

This CalBuzz article says Democrats in the California legislature may introduce a bill (or amend another election law bill to add a new provision) soon to provide that initiatives, no matter when they are submitted, will not appear on the June primary ballot. Instead they would wait and be placed on the November ballot. The rationale is that initiatives should be on the ballot that draws all voters to the polls. Democrats believe that the June 2012 primary ballot in California will have low turnout from Democrats, but high turnout from Republicans, because the Republican presidential primary will theoretically be exciting but the Democratic presidential primary will not be exciting. Therefore, the voters who show up in June would be skewed.

The June 2012 primary will also contain U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and legislature, but again, in 2012, the U.S. Senate race is likely to be more exciting for Republican voters than for Democratic voters, because incumbent U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein is running for re-election and no Democrat with any support is expected to enter the race against her.

California currently is the only state, or almost the only state, that ever permits statewide initiatives to appear on a primary ballot.

California Legislature Passes Bill Banning Paying Registration Workers on a Per-Card Basis

August 30th, 2011

On August 29, the California Assembly passed SB 205 by a vote of 49-27. It makes it illegal for voter registration workers to be paid on a per-card basis. This bill is especially damaging to new and minor parties, because as a result of Proposition 14, the only method for parties to obtain qualified status, or to keep it, is to have registration equal to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. That requires 103,004 registrations now, and that number will probably be higher after November 2014.

The bill now goes to Governor Jerry Brown. Assuming he signs it, it will go into effect on January 1, 2012. The bill passed on a party-line vote, with no Democrats opposing it, and no Republicans supporting it. However, three Democrats didn’t vote.

Tucson Republicans Succeed in Nominating a Mayoral Candidate on Write-in Votes

August 30th, 2011

On August 30, Tucson, Arizona, held partisan primaries for Mayor and other city office. No one had filed to be on the Republican ballot for Mayor, but a write-in candidate polled enough votes to be nominated. The only party with at least two candidates on the ballot for Mayor was the Green Party. See this story. The November 8, 2011, mayoral general election will be between a Democrat, a Republican, and a Green.

Constitution Party Nominee in South Carolina Special Legislative Election Polls 16% in Two-Party Race

August 30th, 2011

On August 30, South Carolina held a special election to fill the vacancy in the State House, tenth district. Constitution Party nominee Dave Ballard polled 16.0%; his only opponent, Republican Joshua Putnam, polled 84.0%. See this story.

U.S. District Court Strikes Down Nebraska Ban on Out-of-State Petitioners

August 30th, 2011

On August 30, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Bataillon issued opinions in two closely related cases, Bernbeck v Gale, 4:10cv-3001, and Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09cv-3255. In the Citizens in Charge case, the judge struck down the Nebraska law that bans out-of-state circulators, but upheld a state law that says all petitions must carry in red ink and large font, “This petition is circulated by a paid circulator.” Of course, if the circulator is not being paid, the petition need not carry that message. UPDATE: here is the AP story on the decision.

In the Bernbeck case, the Judge upheld the state’s ban on paying circulators on a per-signature basis. However, the state law does not ban paying bonuses to circulators who have high productivity. Also in the Bernbeck case, the Judge struck down a law saying the sponsor of a local initiative must be a resident of that locality. He upheld a law making it illegal for people under age 18 to circulate petitions. Here is the Bernbeck decision. Here is the Citizens in Charge decision, the one that strikes down the ban on out-of-state circulators.

The decision striking down the ban on out-of-state circulators is very significant, because in 2001 the 8th circuit had upheld North Dakota’s ban on out-of-state circulators, and Nebraska is in the 8th circuit. Judge Battaillon said the 8th circuit case is not controlling because in that case, the plaintiffs did not present any evidence about how burdensome the ban is. In the recent Nebraska case, the plaintiffs did present such evidence. Thanks to Kent Bernbeck for this news and for one of the links, and thanks to Paul Jacob for the other link.

California Superior Court Dismisses Intra-American Independent Party Lawsuit

August 30th, 2011

On August 23, a California Superior Court Judge in Solano County dismissed the lawsuit King v Robinson, FCS034452. This is the lawsuit over which faction in the California American Independent Party represents the party. The faction that is allied with the national Constitution Party had filed the lawsuit. That faction is now free to appeal, if they wish to do so. The Superior Court had not actually adjudicated the case, but had instead said that it is moot. Thanks to Markham Robinson 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.