Second Circuit Upholds New York State Law, Forbidding Non-Members of a Party to Circulate Primary Petitions

September 30th, 2011

On September 30, 2011, the Second Circuit upheld New York state laws that make it illegal for non-members of a party to circulate a petition to place a candidate on the primary ballot of a party. Maslow v Board of Elections in the City of New York, 08-3075-cv. The decision is 3-0 and is only eleven pages long.

The Second Circuit considers the law necessary to protect political parties from unwanted interference from outsiders. The decision says on page 6, “The Supreme Court has emphasized — with increasing firmness — that the First Amendment guarantees a political party great leeway in governing its own affairs.” This statement is not entirely true. Two of the last three U.S. Supreme Court decisions involving political party freedom of association were defeats for political parties. In 2005, in Clingman v Beaver, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that parties do not have the right to open their primaries to all voters. And in March 2008, in Washington State v Washington State Republican Party, the Court ruled 7-2 that a top-two system, in which parties lose control of their names, does not violate freedom of association on its face (although the court said it may violate freedom of association as applied, and sent the case back to the lower court). On the other hand, in January 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ability of political parties to control their own nomination process in New York State Board of Elections v Lopez Torres.

The Second Circuit also said the challenged law “imposes little or no burden on Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights”, a statement which is contradicted by the U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Buckley v American Constitutional Law Foundation (which struck down a state law saying petitioners must be registered voters) and Meyer v Grant (which struck down a state law banning paying circulators). In both of those cases, the U.S. Supreme Court said restrictions on who may circulate petitions can only be justified by a compelling state interest.

The Second Circuit opinion was written by Judge Peter W. Hall, a Bush Jr. appointee, and signed by Judges Debra Ann Livingston, another Bush Jr. appointee, and Chester Stroud, a Clinton appointee. Judge Hall is also one of the two judges who upheld the discriminatory Connecticut public funding law. It is clear from the Second Circuit’s opinion that if any qualified political party in New York state passed a bylaw, saying the party is willing to let non-members circulate petitions to place a candidate on that party’s own primary ballot, that the state law, as applied to that party, would fall. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the news about the decision.



U.S. District Court Judges in Texas will Create Congressional Redistricting Map

September 30th, 2011

On September 30, a 3-judge U.S. District Court in Texas issued a ruling, saying the judges will prepare an interim map of U.S. House districts for Texas, just in case the map prepared by the legislature this year is held to violate the federal Voting Rights Act. The decision as to whether the legislature’s districts violate the Voting Rights Act or not is before a U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. See this story.

Texas could have asked the U.S. Justice Department to preclear the maps the legislature drew this year, but Texas decided to bypass the Justice Department and go straight to a U.S. District court in Washington, D.C. The problem with that choice is that the district court in Washington, D.C., may not act in time. Texas has a March primary for all federal and state offices.

Florida Will Hold Presidential Primary on January 31

September 30th, 2011

On September 30, Florida state officials said the state will hold its presidential primary on January 31, 2012. See this story. This will cause certain other states to hold their primaries and caucuses earlier as well, so that, as in 2008, the earliest primaries will be in the first half of January. In 2008, the New Hampshire primary was on January 8.

For the likely results on other early states in 2012, see this blog post from Frontloading HQ, written on September 28, at a time when Florida’s date was predicted to be January 31, but that was not yet certain. However, at the time Frontloading wrote its analysis, there was doubt about Georgia. When reading it, bear in mind that Georgia has since set its primary for March 6.

New York City Ballot in Special U.S. House Race of September 13

September 30th, 2011

Thanks to a helpful commenter to an earlier blog post, here is a picture of the New York ballot for U.S. House, in the special election of September 13 in the 9th district. The image is very fuzzy, but it possible to see that the two major party nominees were in the top line on the ballot (each with multiple party lines). Then, all by himself in a lower part of the ballot is the third candidate in the race, Chris Hoeppner, nominee of the Socialist Workers Party. The design suggests that Hoeppner wasn’t necessarily a candidate in the same race. Of course an aware voter would understand that he was, but the ballot design gives an unclear impression about that.

Americans Elect Nomination Procedures Explained by John Avlon

September 30th, 2011

John Avlon has this article on CNN, detailing how presidential candidates may qualify for the Americans Elect on-line presidential primary. The article says candidates nominated by the Americans Elect leadership need 10,000 “clicks” from the ranks of people who have signed up to be voters in the Americans Elect primary. Those not suggested by the leadership need 100,000 “clicks”. The story also says that currently, 110,000 people have signed up to be Americans Elect primary voters.

Working Families Party Will Help Bolster Protest on Wall Street

September 30th, 2011

According to this article, the Working Families Party will assist in enlarging the ongoing protest on Wall Street.

Arizona State Court Hears Testimony in “Sham Candidate” Lawsuit

September 30th, 2011

On September 29, a lower state court in Arizona heard testimony in a lawsuit over whether Olivia Cortes should remain on the ballot in the upcoming recall election of State Senate President Russell Pearce. See this story. In Arizona, when a recall petition succeeds, the office-holder being recalled is on the ballot, along with any other candidates who have petitioned to run in the same recall election. The election is non-partisan. The person who gets the most votes wins.

Three candidates are on the ballot: Pearce, an opponent of Senator Pearce (who hopes to out-poll Pearce) and a third candidate, Olivia Cortes. Evidence suggests that Cortes only got on the ballot with the help of Pearce supporters, that she is a “sham” candidate, as the story makes clear. Pearce supporters know that Pearce is unpopular with most Hispanic voters, and presumably put Cortes on the ballot to split the anti-Pearce vote. However, there is no logical or legal principle that would eliminate someone from the ballot, based on her motivation or on who helped get her on the ballot. The pending case is somewhat similar to a case in Arizona in 2010, when the Green Party went to court to remove some of its nominees from the ballot on the grounds that they were “sham” candidates, recruited by Republican activists. Although some of the 2010 “sham” Greens voluntarily withdrew, the court ruled that there was no legal basis to remove candidates from the ballot, no matter what their motivation for running. A decision in the current case is expected on Monday, October 3.

Florida Republican Primary Shows Herman Cain in the Lead Among Voters Under Age 65

September 29th, 2011

This SurveyUSA poll surveys Florida Republicans who are likely to vote in that state’s presidential primary next year. It shows that Mitt Romney has 27% support, and Herman Cain is second at 25%. But, it also shows that Republican voters under age 65 prefer Cain to Romney. It also shows that males of all age groups prefer Cain above all other contenders. Thanks to Political Wire for the link.

Missouri Bill Moving Presidential Primary from February to March Fails to Pass

September 29th, 2011

Sponsors of the Missouri bill to move the presidential primary from February 7 to early March have given up. The bill is considered dead. Therefore, the 2012 primary will be on February 7. However, the state Republican Party has decided that the primary will be a “beauty contest” only, and that the state party will use March caucuses to choose the delegates to the national convention.

Missouri will also be holding presidential primaries for the Democratic, Constitution, and Libertarian Parties. These are also “beauty contest” presidential primaries, which don’t actually chose delegates for those parties either.

The bill to move the date of the presidential primaries also would have raised the filing fee to run in a presidential primary from $1,000 to $5,000 in 2012, and $10,000 thereafter. The failure of this bill to pass increases the odds that candidates who are seeking the Constitution Party nomination, or the Libertarian Party nomination, will now file. Missouri Libertarians have used their presidential primary in the past, just to test the voter appeal of the various candidates. Missouri does not have registration by party, and any voter is free to choose any party’s presidential primary ballot. Thanks to Frontloading HQ for this news.

Fifth Circuit Opinion Involving Cumulative Voting in Boerne, Texas

September 29th, 2011

On September 28, the Fifth Circuit issued this 28-page opinion in League of United Latin American Citizens v City of Boerne, 10-50290/10-50416. Boerne, Texas, has been embroiled in lawsuits over how it elects its city council since 1996, and the controversy is still not over. Originally Boerne used at-large elections for all five of the city council seats. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) sued, charging that under the at-large system, no Hispanic had ever won any seat. The city settled by promising to use Cumulative Voting, and under Cumulative Voting, one Hispanic did get elected and re-elected.

However, then the city and LULAC asked the court to modify their consent decree, to switch to single-member districts, and the court did then approve single-member districts. But then a Boerne voter, Michael R. Morton, intervened in the case, saying that he opposed modifying the consent decree, because modifying it was causing him to lose his ability to cast a vote for all five seats. The U.S. District Court then ruled that Morton lacked standing. But the 5th circuit ruled he does have standing. The case now returns to the U.S. District Court, where it may again reinstate district elections, but only if the evidence shows that there is a good reason to do that. It is possible that cumulative voting will be reinstated, because it does have a good track record; under cumulative voting, a Hispanic was elected. There are no longer any Hispanics on the council.

Cumulative voting gives a voter several votes. He or she is free to cast all the votes for a single candidate, or disperse them to different candidates. Boerne elects two city council members in odd years, and three in even years, so the number of votes a voter has in each election is either two or three, depending on what year it is.

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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!

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  • 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]

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