Florida Removes Socialist Workers Party from the List of Qualified Parties

December 31st, 2011

On December 20, the Florida Secretary of State disqualified the Socialist Workers Party, on the grounds that it has not complied with the 2011 law that required all parties to re-qualify. The new law required all parties to again submit a list of party officers, and to furnish certain other information about the party rules. Also, the new rules said that each party must have at least three officers, and that they all must be registered members of that party. The Socialist Workers Party was disqualified for not having submitted a new application.

As the Secretary of State’s letter points out, the party, or any party, is free to re-qualify at any time.



New Americans Elect National Signature Total

December 31st, 2011

Each week, the Americans Elect web page reveals how many signatures have been collected nationwide. The latest tally shows 2,370,633, which is a gain of 57,554 during the preceding week. By comparison, the previous week had seen an increase of 60,042.

Alabama Senator Cam Ward Files Two Ballot Access Improvement Bills

December 31st, 2011

Alabama State Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) has introduced two bills to improve ballot access for minor parties and independent candidates. SB 15 would reduce petitions for a previously unqualified party from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote to 5,000 signatures, for statewide status. A party that wished to qualify in only part of the state would need a petition of 1.5% of the last gubernatorial vote in that particular district. SB 15 also reduces the number of signatures for non-presidential independent candidates from 3% to 1.5% (the independent presidential petition is already 5,000 signatures, and the bill would not change that).

SB 55 would eliminate all mandatory ballot access petitions, if the previously unqualified party or independent candidate paid a filing fee. The fee would be 2% of the office’s annual salary. The fee for presidential candidates would be capped at $5,000. Thanks to Joshua Cassity for this news.

Four Other Republican Presidential Candidates Join Rick Perry’s Virginia Ballot Access Lawsuit

December 31st, 2011

According to this story, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, and Rick Santorum have all joined Rick Perry’s lawsuit against the Virginia ballot access law for presidential primaries. The court’s website does not yet reflect this filing, but that is probably because court employees, like employees of many government offices and non-government offices alike, worked reduced hours on December 30. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Congressional Quarterly Publishes “America Votes 2010″

December 30th, 2011

Congressional Quarterly has just published “America Votes 2010″, a 465-page book of election returns from each state for Congress and Governor. The book is the 29th in the series. A similar book is published every two years. The author, as in recent past years, is Rhodes Cook.

America Votes 2010 is the only reference book published so far that includes the Pennsylvania write-ins from November 2010. Pennsylvania permits write-in votes, but some counties of Pennsylvania fail to count any, and the state is very reluctant to include the write-ins in its official returns. Pennsylvania’s Department of State didn’t canvass them for four months after the election, and as a result, the other publications that include official election returns failed to mention any write-in votes. Other organizations that publish official election returns are the Federal Election Commission and the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Even America Votes doesn’t say who received the Pennsylvania write-ins. One reason Pennsylvania has so much trouble with write-ins is that it is the only large state that has no procedure by which a write-in candidate can file a declaration of candidacy. Therefore, the law requires Pennsylvania election officials to count and canvass all write-ins, even the silly ones. So, the result is that frequently, there is no canvassing of any write-ins at all. The minor parties that were left off the ballot in 2010 complained about this, but the federal courts said they didn’t have standing to complain about the policy, which was an absurd conclusion.

Montana Supreme Court Upholds State Law Banning Corporations from Spending Money on Campaign Messages about Candidates

December 30th, 2011

On December 30, the Montana Supreme Court upheld the state law that makes it illegal for corporations to spend money, disseminating messages supporting or attacking candidates for state office. See this story. The vote was 5-2. Here is the 80-page opinion. The majority opinion is 29 pages, and the dissents are 51 pages. The case is Western Tradition Partnership v Attorney General. The majority seems to acknowledge that its decision contradicts the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, but justifies this divergence from precedent by arguing that Montana has its own special reasons to block corporate speech.

The dissent by Justice Beth Baker quotes from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s recent book, “Making Our Democracy Work: A Judge’s View”. Breyer wrote about the importance to our system of government that lower courts, and the executive and legislative branches of the federal and state governments, accept U.S. Supreme Court opinions, even when they disagree with those opinions.. The dissent by Justice James C. Nelson, which follows the Baker dissent and which is considerably longer, contains an impassioned criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, but says that it is the law of the land. Page 40 contains a very earthy remark by Justice Nelson, rebutting the idea that Montana is “entitled to a special ‘no peeing’ zone in the First Amendment swimming pool”. Thanks to Justin Levitt for the link to the decision.

Ohio Democratic Presidential Primary Will Have Two Candidates; Republicans Ballot to List Seven Candidates

December 30th, 2011

On December 30, filing closed for the Ohio presidential primary. The Democratic ballot will include President Obama, and Randall Terry. The Republican presidential primary ballot will list Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Each of these candidates needed 1,000 signatures.

None of the five qualified minor parties will use their presidential primaries. See this story.

Virginia Voter Who Signed Gingrich Petition Sues Over Petition Form

December 30th, 2011

On December 29, a Virginia voter who signed the petition to put Newt Gingrich on the Virginia ballot filed a lawsuit in state court, charging that many signatures on the Gingrich petition were probably invalidated, even though they were valid. The lawsuit focuses on the aspect of the state form that doesn’t give people much room to show their address. See this story. The lawsuit is in state court in Richmond. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

Virginia Republican Legislator Says Republicans Should Drop Voter Loyalty Oath

December 29th, 2011

Virginia state legislator Bob Marshall, a Republican, has publicly urged his party to drop the voter loyalty oath for the March 6 presidential primary. See this story.

Attorneys Fee Award of $1,132,182 in Second Amendment Case Against District of Columbia Handgun Ban

December 29th, 2011

On December 29, six attorneys who worked on the lawsuit Heller v District of Columbia were awarded a total of $1,132,182 in attorneys fees. Heller v D.C. was not an election law case. This post is nevertheless being made because it illustrates the power of the 1976 federal law that awards attorneys’ fees to attorneys who win constitutional civil rights cases. Election law cases are part of civil rights. Here is the District Court’s order, explaining how the amount was calculated.

Heller v D.C. challenged the District’s total ban on handguns. Heller won the case in the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008. Heller’s three main attorneys received these amounts: Alan Gura $662,424; Clark Neily $294,084; Robert Levy $101,020. Three other attorneys for Heller received smaller amounts.

Heller’s attorneys received compensation for the hours they spent researching the Ninth Amendment, even though they did not win the case on Ninth Amendment grounds. Instead, they won on Second Amendment grounds. Thanks to How Appealing for the link.

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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.