Pennsylvania State Senator Charged with Tampering with Evidence

August 30th, 2011

Pennsylvania State Senator Jane Orie has been charged with tampering with evidence, and faces sixteen felony charges. She also still faces a retrial in charges filed last year, in which the prosecutor believes state employees worked on her re-election campaign on state time. See this story. Orie has been a Pennsylvania state legislator since she was first elected in 1996. She is a Republican from Allegheny County and an attorney. One of her sisters is a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice.



U.S. District Court in New Jersey Sets September 1 Hearing in Carl Lewis Ballot Lawsuit

August 30th, 2011

A U.S. District Court in Camden will hold another hearing in Lewis v Guadagno on Thursday, September 1. See this story. The issue is whether Carl Lewis should be on the November 8, 2011 ballot as the Democratic nominee for State Senate, 8th district.

U.S. District Court Judge Indicates a Ruling Likely by September 2 in Ohio Libertarian Ballot Access Case

August 30th, 2011

On August 30, a U.S. District Court Judge listened to testimony in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted. Michael Johnston of the Ohio Libertarian Party, testified for the plaintiffs, and a representative of the Secretary of State provided testimony on the other side. The judge indicated he expects to issue a ruling by Friday, September 2. The issue is whether the new Ohio ballot access law is constitutional, and also whether due process prevents the Secretary of State from eliminating the four ballot-qualified minor parties on such short notice. The 2011 session of the legislature had passed a new law to replace the law held unconstitutional in 2006, but the new law still requires as many signatures as the old law, and sets an early February petition deadline for petitions to qualify a party.

Libertarian Nominee for Kentucky Treasurer at 16% in PublicPolicyPolling Poll

August 30th, 2011

According to this news story at Independent Political Report, PublicPolicyPolling’s poll of the Kentucky Treasurer’s race shows the Libertarian Party nominee, Ken Moellman, at 16% in a 3-party race. The election will be on November 8, 2011. UPDATE: here is a link to the poll itself. In the gubernatorial race, independent Gatewood Galbraith is at 10%.

Scholarly Paper Suggests Recidivism is Worse in States that Don’t Allow Ex-Felons to Register to Vote

August 30th, 2011

Guy Padraic Hamilton-Smith and Matthew Vogel have published a 24-page study that shows a link between recidivism and the policy of not permitting ex-felons to register to vote. It can be read at this link. At least 5,300,000 individuals in the United States have lost their voting rights due to the policy of some states of not letting ex-felons register.

The study concludes, “Taken as a whole, our findings indicate that states which permanently disenfranchise ex-felons experience significantly higher rates of repeat offenses than states that do not.” Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

LZ Granderson Column on the Benefits of Having At Least Three Choices in Presidential Elections

August 30th, 2011

LZ Granderson has this column on CNN, extolling the virtues of having at least three viable presidential candidates in general elections. Granderson is a columnist both for CNN and for ESPN, and generally writes about sports.

This particular column focuses mostly on Jon Huntsman as a potential “third force” candidate, but the column is at least equally noteworthy for what it says about the general benefits of additional choice beyond the major party nominees, whether the outsider candidate has a chance of winning or not.

New Hampshire Chooses Not to Respond to Libertarian Party Cert Petition

August 29th, 2011

Last month, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its election law lawsuit. The due date for the state’s response, August 29, has now passed. The state filed nothing, not even a notice that it is waiving its right to respond. However, there is never any legal requirement that the other side must respond to a cert petition.

The case concerns the state’s behavior in the presidential election of November 2008, when it printed two Libertarian Party presidential candidates on the ballot, one of whom was the party’s nominee, and one of whom was not. Almost all states, other than New Hampshire, provide legal protection for party names, and will not print a party label on the ballot next to the name of a candidate, in a general election, if the party did not nominate that candidate. The case is called Libertarian Party of New Hampshire v Gardner, 11-119. The U.S. Supreme Court has this case on its conference for September 23.

Libertarians Nominate Three Registered Republicans for Town Office in 2011 Westchester County, New York Election

August 29th, 2011

New York state is holding partisan elections for local government on November 8, 2011. In the town of North Castle, in Westchester County, the Libertarian Party has placed three candidates on the ballot for Town Supervisor and Town Council. Howard Arden, Matthew Rice, and Kerry Lutz, are all registered Republicans. See this story.

New York election law makes it impossible for voters to change parties and to make that change effective immediately. A voter can change parties in 2011 but the change is not effective for almost a year. No other state restricts party changes so severely.

North Castle has a population of 12,000, and has had a Libertarian Party presence in local elections for at least six years. In 2009 the Libertarian Party nominee for North Castle Town polled 27% in a 3-candidate race, outpolling the Democratic nominee. In 2005 the Libertarian polled 5% in a town election.

All Briefs Filed in Ohio Libertarian Party Ballot Access Case; Hearing Set for August 30

August 29th, 2011

All briefs have been filed in the new Ohio Libertarian Party ballot access lawsuit. The hearing is set for Tuesday, August 30, at 9 a.m., before Judge Algenon Marbley, in the U.S. District Courthouse in Columbus.

The Libertarian Party argues that it violates due process for the Secretary of State to have terminated the party’s ballot status last month, partly because the party had intended to participate in two partisan city elections this fall. In response to that argument, the Secretary of State’s brief says the Libertarian 2011 nominees may have the party label “Libertarian” placed next to their name on the November 8, 2011 ballot, even though the party (in the Secretary of State’s eyes) is no longer qualified. The Secretary of State’s brief merely asserts that the party label will be permitted, but does not explain by what legal authority the Secretary of State expects the party label to be on the ballot. Ohio law does not permit any party labels on any ballot, unless the party is qualified.

The Secretary of State’s brief appears to contradict itself, because in another part it insists that the Secretary of State cannot leave the party on the ballot, because a 2008 court ruling established that only state legislatures can write ballot access restrictions, and that state administrators cannot constitutionally write their own ballot access laws. Therefore, it seems to follow logically that the Secretary of State has no authority to leave the label “Libertarian” on the 2011 ballots.

The Secretary of State’s brief also argues that the new ballot access law, providing for an early February petition deadline for petitions to qualify a party, is constitutional. However, the Secretary of State’s brief does not cite any authority that allows a petition deadline that early. All of the precedents mentioned in his brief that upheld petition deadlines dealt with May, June, or July petition deadlines. Here is the Libertarian Party’s rebuttal brief.

Three-Candidate TV Debate in Special New York U.S. House Race

August 29th, 2011

New York fills the vacant 9th district U.S. House seat on September 13. Three candidates are on the ballot: Democrat David Weprin, Republican Bob Turner, and Socialist Workers nominee Christopher Hoeppner. All three candidates debated on Queens Public TV on August 23. The debate will be broadcast on four dates: (1) Friday, September 2, at 7 p.m.; (2) Friday, September 9, at 7 p.m.; (3) Sunday, September 11, at 10 p.m.; (4) Tuesday, September 13, at 10 a.m.

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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.