Veteran California Campaign Consultant Says Top-Two Open Primary Changed Little Except to Double Campaign Spending

June 29th, 2012

Richie Ross, a veteran California Democratic Party campaign consultant, has this op-ed in the Sacramento Bee. He concludes that the biggest change caused by California’s top-two open primary Proposition 14 was to vastly increase the amount of money spent in campaigns.



Fourth Circuit Rules that Corporations are Still Prevented from Donating to Candidates for Federal Office

June 29th, 2012

On June 28, the 4th circuit ruled in USA v Danielczyk that federal laws that prohibit contributions to federal candidates are still constitutional. Here is the 12-page decision. As is well known, in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v FEC that corporations cannot be prevented from spending money to spread their own message about federal candidates and whether voters should support them or not.

The 4th circuit said there are substantial differences between independent spending and campaign contributions. “Direct contributions do not necessarily fund political speech”, the decision says. More importantly, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in the past has upheld laws that ban corporate contributions to federal candidates. The most recent such decision, FEC v Beaumont, was issued in 2003.

It is likely that the Danielczyk case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Marilyn Marks Finally Wins her Court Battle to Inspect Old Ballots from City of Aspen

June 29th, 2012

Marilyn Marks, an activist who worries about the accuracy of vote-counting equipment, has finally won her court battle to inspect ballots cast in Aspen, Colorado city elections from 2009. See this story. On June 28, the Colorado Supreme Court said it will not review the State Court of Appeals decision that had said old ballots are public records.

The legislature had passed a bill this year, clarifying that old voted ballots are public records available for public inspection (with certain restrictions), but that had not ended the controversy over ballots from a past election. When the ballots are made available for public inspection, of course there will be no method for knowing which voter put any particular ballot in the ballot box.

Hope Fades for Passing Ballot Access Reform in North Carolina This Year

June 29th, 2012

The ballot access bill, HB 32, is almost certainly not going to be brought up in the North Carolina State Senate before the legislature adjourns in a few days. Reportedly, the President of the State Senate, Phil Berger (R-Eden), is blocking the bill.

British Government Introduces Bill for a Mostly-Elected House of Lords

June 28th, 2012

On June 27, the British government introduced its bill into Parliament to transform the House of Lords into a mostly-elected body. The name of the body might or might not eventually be changed, perhaps to the Senate. See this story for the details. The first elections would be in 2015. No one can predict whether or not the bill will pass. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

U.S. Supreme Court Won’t Disturb Ninth Circuit Decision on Arizona Voter Registration for Now

June 28th, 2012

On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to maintain any stay, or delay, on implementing the 9th Circuit opinion in Gonzalez v Arizona. This means that, at least for remainder of the year, Arizona must accept voter registrations using the federal voter registration form, without the addition of any information not asked for on the federal form. Here is the Court’s order. Justice Alito would have maintained the temporary stay that has been in effect for the preceding week. Thanks to Justin Levitt for this news.

Santa Barbara Republican Party Refuses to Endorse Abel Maldonado for Congress

June 28th, 2012

At its June 2012 meeting, the Santa Barbara County Republican Central Committee refused to endorse Abel Maldonado for U.S. House, 24th district, even though he is the only Republican on the November 2012 ballot. The other person on the ballot is incumbent Democrat Lois Capps. See this story.

Maldonado supporters will attempt to obtain the party’s endorsement at the July meeting, and are also threatening members of the committee with removal for their failure to endorse Maldonado. However, under the legal theory behind top-two, parties don’t have nominees, and therefore there seems to be no legal theory that would punish a party official body for refusing to endorse someone.

Connecticut Governor Vetoes Campaign Finance Bill

June 28th, 2012

On June 15, Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy, a Democrat, vetoed HB 5556, which imposed severe changes in the state’s campaign finance law. The legislature has decided not to attempt to override his veto. The bill would have, among other things, required non-profit advocacy groups to list on their web page the names of individuals who donate to that group, if the group makes independent expenditures about candidates for office. The bill defines “independent expenditure” to include not only messages urging voters to vote for or against a candidate, but any message expressing an opinion about bills pending in the legislature. Thanks to the Center for Competitive Politics for this news.

Here is the Governor’s veto message. The veto was considered a victory for the ACLU, and a defeat for Common Cause.

African-American California Voter Files Lawsuit Against Top-Two, Charges Top-Two as Applied Violates Voting Rights Act

June 28th, 2012

On June 26, an African-American voter, Elise Brown, of Victorville, California, filed a federal lawsuit, charging that top-two, as applied, violates the Voting Rights Act and also violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The claim is based on voting rights. Brown charges that her November 2012 ballot, in the 8th U.S. House district, leaves her with only two Republicans, both of whom she alleges are hostile to her interests. The complaint charges that because there is no write-in space, and because she cannot in good conscience vote for either candidate who is listed on the ballot, the top-two system deprives her of a vote in November.

The case is Brown v Bowen, central district, Riverside, cv12-05547. Here is the complaint, which says that Brown is a member of the San Bernardino County Democratic Central Committee, and an officer of the Adelanto-Victorville Democratic Club. The two candidates who placed first and second in the 8th district are Assemblyman Paul Cook, a conservative Republican, and Greg Imus, another conservative Republican. The 8th district covers the bulk of the more rural parts of San Bernardino County, plus other counties on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

This is the first lawsuit against California’s top-two open primary that is filed by anyone associated with either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. The other three lawsuits that have been filed against California’s Proposition 14 have all been filed by independent candidates or minor political parties and their members.

Jill Stein Inches Closer to Qualifying for Primary Season Matching Funds

June 27th, 2012

Jill Stein, frontrunner for the Green Party presidential nomination, has now raised at least $5,000 in matchable donations from thirteen states. However, she won’t qualify for primary season matching funds unless she meets that goal in at least twenty states. The two latest states in which she has met the goal are Oregon and Michigan.

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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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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]

    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]

    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.