Final Brief Filed in Massachusetts Presidential Substitution Lawsuit

November 30th, 2011

On November 30, the Libertarian Party filed the final brief in the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in Libertarian Association of Massachusetts v Galvin, SJ-2011-0348. Here is the memorandum in support of the party’s motion for summary judgment.



Ninth Circuit Web Page Posts Link to Audio Recording of Oral Argument in Washington State Top-Two Case

November 30th, 2011

Anyone who wishes to hear a recording of the oral argument of November 29 in Washington Republican Party v Washington State may do so by using this link. The hearing lasted an hour.

Buddy Roemer Says, “I’m Going to Do It”

November 30th, 2011

Here is a link to a transcript in which Buddy Roemer appeared on the Neil Cavuto Show on Fox. If one reads the second page, one finds that the story’s headline is really too weak. Roemer says, “I’m going to do it” when asked if he will run for President outside the two major parties.

Some South Dakota Officials Want to Introduce Bill to Prohibit Ex-Felons from Circulating Petitions

November 30th, 2011

This news story says the South Dakota Elections Board, or some members, apparently want to get a bill introduced in 2012 to make it illegal for ex-felons to circulate petitions. This detail is near the end of the article. The article suggests that Secretary of State Jason Gant is not in favor of this idea, or at least that he isn’t ready to support that idea yet.

New York Post Columnist Says Legislative Special Session Needed Next Month to Avoid Election-Administration Chaos

November 30th, 2011

Michael Benjamin, a New York Post columnist, urges that the New York legislature be called into special session in December to work on the problem that the state’s non-presidential September primary must be changed to an earlier date, due to the federal law on overseas absentees ballots.

The hearing in U.S. District Court in the federal government’s lawsuit against New York on this point has been postponed once again, from December 1 to December 12. This is the fourth postponement. It seems somewhat likely that the judge is hoping the legislature will act before he must choose a new primary date. The case is USA v State of New York, northern district, 10-cv-1214. Thanks to Bill Van Allen for the link.

Rocky Anderson, former Salt Lake City Mayor, Announces Intent to Build a New Political Party

November 29th, 2011

On November 29, Rocky Anderson, former Mayor of Salt Lake City, and a man of many other accomplishments, said he will attempt to form a new political party and to seek that party’s nomination. Here is the wikipedia article on Anderson. The new party will probably be called the Justice Party, and will take political positions that will probably appeal more to Democrats and progressives than to other kinds of voters. See this story about Anderson’s announcement.

Anderson has been a close friend of Mitt Romney, according to this news story from earlier in the month. UPDATE: here is another story.

Some Massachusetts Democrats Now Regret Moving Non-Presidential Primary to Coincide with Democratic National Convention

November 29th, 2011

This story reveals that some important Massachusetts Democratic politicians are unhappy that the legislature recently passed a bill moving the 2012 non-presidential primary to September 6. September 6 is also the last day of the national Democratic convention.

Lewiston Tribune Article Explains How Republican Party’s New Closed Primary Affects Idaho Election Officials

November 29th, 2011

The Lewiston Tribune has this article, explaining that Idaho election officials will have a difficult job deciding how many Republican primary ballots to print in 2012. Before 2011 Idaho did not ask voters to choose a party on voter registration forms. In 2011 the law changed, so that in 2014 and years even further in the future, voters will have chosen a party on voter registration forms or at the polls on primary day in 2012. So, for 2014 and years beyond, election officials will know how approximately many primary ballots to print for each party. But 2012 is a special problem, because the registration by party system is still being phased in.

In 2010 and earlier years, election officials printed up one primary ballot for all voters. Voters, in the secrecy of the voting booth, decided which party’s primary to vote in. Even though all party primary ballots were on the same piece of paper, a voter could only vote in one party’s area of that ballot. Thanks to Mike Fellows for the link.

Oregon Independent Party Nominates Suzanne Bonamici, who is Also the Democratic Nominee, for Congress, Special Election

November 29th, 2011

Early in 2012, Oregon voters will fill the vacancy in the U.S. House seat, First District. The Independent Party of Oregon has nominated Suzanne Bonamici, who is also the Democratic Party nominee. She defeated Rob Cornilles, the Republican nominee, by a vote of 56-31 in the Independent Party nomination process.

Registered members of the Independent Party voted in this primary by going to the party’s web page, downloading and printing the ballot, and mailing it to the party, together with a photocopy of that voter’s ID. Voters in Independent Party primaries cannot vote unless they had been registered members of the party for a short period before the election had been announced. This party rule is to prevent the party’s nomination from being influenced by partisans of either major party who might join the Independent Party at the last minute, to influence the outcome. Since 2009, Oregon has permitted two parties to jointly nominate the same candidate.

Ninth Circuit Hears Oral Arguments in Washington State Top-Two Primary Lawsuit

November 29th, 2011

On November 29, the 9th circuit held oral arguments in Washington Republican Party v Washington State, the case originally filed in 2005 by the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian Parties against the Washington state top-two primary system.

The three judges are Raymond Fisher, a Clinton appointee from California, Dorothy Nelson, a Carter appointee from California, and Milan Smith, a Bush Jr. appointee originally from Oregon, but now also a Californian. The argument lasted for one hour. The entire hour was consumed by the freedom of association issue. There was no discussion of the ballot access issue, which is based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in 1986 in Munro v Socialist Workers Party that there is no constitutional distinction between a petition to get a candidate on the November ballot, and a prior vote showing in a preliminary election. Because the U.S. Supreme Court has long ago established that petitions for a candidate to get on the November ballot can’t exceed 5%, the Munro decision ought to mean that vote tests in prior elections also can’t exceed 5%. But requiring a candidate to place first or second usually means that a candidate must poll 30% (on the average) to qualify for the election itself.

The freedom of association issue, in the judges’ eyes, appears to turn on whether they are permitted to evaluate all the evidence in the case on the ballot label “Candidate (whomever) prefers the (whichever) party.” The three political parties in the case had submitted social science experimental evidence that indicates a large share of the voters, after they see the ballot, then believe either that the party named on the ballot nominated the candidate, or approves of that candidate, or that the candidate is affiliated with the party. The state of Washington, and its ally the Washington State Grange, tend to argue that the judges should only determine whether the ballot language is as clear as the state can make it.

Washington state ballots say at the top, “Each candidate for partisan office may state a political party that he or she prefers. A candidate’s preference does not imply that the candidate is nominated or endorsed by the party, or that the party approves of or associates with that candidate.”

The political parties also submitted evidence that even sophisticated reporters who cover politics constantly refer to various Washington state politicians as “Democrats” or “Republicans”, never as individuals who “prefer” one of those parties. The state and the Grange ridiculed the idea that a law might be unconstitutional just because of what newspapers say. However, one of the judges noted that this case bears some similarity to trademark disputes, and that when courts hear a case on whether one company has infringed on the trademark of another company, the courts are supposed to look at all available evidence about public opinion. A decision will probably be out in the next three months.

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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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