MINOR PARTIES WIN BALLOT ACCESS FIGHTS IN 4 STATES

Iowa

On August 24, a challenge was filed to the Libertarian Party’s ballot status. The case was heard on August 27, in front of the three officials who have jurisdiction to hear a ballot access challenge: the Secretary of State, the Auditor, and the Attorney General. On August 29, they ruled 3-0 that Johnson may be on the ballot.

The basis for the challenge was that the method the party used to get on the ballot, requiring 250 signatures of convention attendees, was not legal. Iowa has two methods for unqualified parties to place nominees on the November ballot for statewide office: (1) a petition of 1,500 names; (2) a convention in which 250 attendees sign in. Johnson used the petition method, but two days before the petition deadline, it was discovered that one piece of paperwork was missing, and it could not be replaced because the form had to be signed by the party’s stand-in presidential candidate, and he was in Mexico and could not be reached.

Therefore, with little time remaining for an entire new petition, the Iowa Libertarian Party called a quick convention, to be held on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Passers-by were invited to sign, and the party submitted approximately 400 signatures, and the Secretary of State accepted the filing. The Socialist Party had got on the ballot the same way in 2008.

But two Iowa voters, and a witness for them, filed a challenge to the convention document. They said the signers must be party members and delegates. The witness for the voters is an official with the Mitt Romney campaign in Iowa. Their challenge was rejected because the election law doesn’t define "convention" and has no rules about which kinds of people may participate.

New Mexico

On August 1, the Secretary of State said Jon Barrie, U.S. Senate nominee of the Independent American Party, doesn’t have enough signatures, and also that he can’t be on the ballot because he wasn’t a registered member of his party early in the year.

On August 22, the State Supreme Court ruled that Barrie may be on the ballot whether he was a registered member of his party early in the year or not. The Court said forcing nominees of newly-qualifying parties to be members of their party before the party was on the ballot would be unconstitutional. Barrie v Duran, 33755. The State Supreme Court remanded the case to a lower court to decide if Barrie had enough signatures.

On August 28, a lower state court ruled that Barrie has enough valid signatures. That court ruled that signatures are valid, even if the voter moved after last registering, so that the address on the petition is different from the address on the voter registration form. In the lower court in Santa Fe County, that is case D-101-cv-2012-02233. As a result, New Mexico voters will see the first candidate on the November ballot for U.S. Senate (other than the Democratic and Republican nominees) since 1996.

Tennessee

On August 9, the Sixth Circuit issued an order, keeping the Constitution Party and the Green Party on the ballot. Green Party of Tennessee v Hargett, 12-5271. The vote was 3-0. The judges were Danny Boggs, a Reagan appointee; Ronald Gilman, a Clinton appointee; and Bernice Donald, an Obama appointee. In February 2012 a U.S. District Court had put those two parties on the ballot, and the state had then tried to overturn that order.

The matter of the constitutionality of requiring over 40,000 signatures for a new party, when only 25 signatures are needed for an independent candidate, is still to be decided in the Sixth Circuit. However, if the three judges had felt the law is constitutional, they would have been obliged to remove the two parties. The Sixth Circuit did stay the portion of the U.S. District Court decision that said all parties must have an equal chance to appear on the top line of the ballot. That issue isn’t settled yet either, but for now, the state may continue to list the Democratic and Republican Parties first on the ballot.

Vermont

On August 6, a lower state court ruled that the Justice Party may have another two weeks to finish its presidential petition. The state’s deadline is June 14, which is tied for being the earliest presidential independent deadline in the nation. The basis for the order was not that the deadline is too early, but that the Justice Party had submitted enough valid signatures to the town clerks, but the town clerks had then taken too long to verify the signatures. Anderson v State of Vermont, 480-6-12. The Secretary of State has asked the Vermont Supreme Court to reverse the decision. In the meantime, the Vermont Supreme Court will hear another case, challenging the June petition deadline, on September 12.

On July 30, a U.S. District Court overturned Virginia’s ban on out-of-state circulators. Libertarian Party of Va. v Judd, 3:12-cv-367. The state is appealing to the 4^th circuit, but in the meantime the ban is not in effect. The only states that now ban out-of-staters for all petitions are California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

On July 21, the ballot-qualified Oklahoma Americans Elect Party held a state convention and nominated Gary Johnson for President. It also nominated candidates for presidential elector who are pledged to Johnson, and submitted their names to the Board of Elections.

However, on August 17, the Attorney General’s office wrote a 20-page opinion saying the Board of Elections should not allow Americans Elect to nominate anyone for President, because the national office of Americans Elect had complained that it has a trademark on the name "Americans Elect" and the national leaders don’t want their state parties in any state to nominate any candidates at all. The letter ignored the fact that there are Americans Elect nominees for Congress on the Arizona ballot.

The Attorney General kept the opinion secret until August 29. Meanwhile, the Libertarian Party’s attorney was led to believe that the Board would put Johnson on the ballot as the Americans Elect nominee. Therefore, the Libertarian Party agreed to delay the Libertarian Party’s ballot access lawsuit until 2013. The party had also cooperated with the state earlier in the year, and had delayed the case during June and July because the state’s expert witness, Professor Clifford Jones, was out of the U.S.

The Attorney General did not make the opinion known to the Libertarian Party attorney, or to the state officers of Americans Elect, until August 29. The opinion refers to the state leaders of Americans Elect as "the local group." The opinion says nothing whatsoever about the wishes of the 90,000 voters who signed the petition, nor the wishes of the voters who are registered members of Americans Elect.

One wonders what the Oklahoma Election Board would do if the Republican national committee asked the state to de-certify the Oklahoma Republican Party from the ballot.

On August 31, the state officers of Americans Elect asked the State Supreme Court to order the Board to put Americans Elect on the ballot. If no relief is granted, Oklahoma will be the only state with only Mitt Romney and President Obama on the ballot. That will be the third presidential election in a row in which Oklahoma is the only state that doesn’t permit voters to vote for anyone for President other than the Democratic and Republican nominee. Oklahoma is one of only five states that bans all write-in votes.

In order to find any instance of any other state that held three presidential elections in a row with only the Democratic and Republican nominees on the ballot, one must go all the way back to the period 1956 through 1964.

On August 8, on the last day for challenges, several Republican activists challenged the statewide petitions of the Libertarian Party and the Constitution Party. Pennsylvania is the only state in which only a court can check the validity of signatures, and Pennsylvania state courts can assess court costs, which can be more than $100,000, against groups whose petitions are insufficient.

The Constitution Party, which had submitted 35,000 signatures, then withdrew its petition to avoid the danger of being assessed costs. Now no one will ever know if that petition had enough valid signatures. The state requires 20,601. The Libertarians, who submitted 49,600, are now undergoing the challenge process, which takes two weeks. Meanwhile, the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties are pressing their federal lawsuit that argues the challenge/fee system violates the U.S. Constitution.

The two states that have held top-two open primaries this year both report record low turnouts. In California, using a top-two primary for the first time for a regularly-scheduled primary, the turnout was only 31.06% of the registered voters. This is the lowest turnout for a presidential primary in California history, and California has been holding such primaries for 100 years.

In Washington state, only 38.48% of the registered voters voted. This is the lowest turnout in a gubernatorial election year primary in that state since at least 1936. Statistics are unavailable for earlier primaries. Although the state knows how many voters participated in primaries before 1936, it does not know how many registered voters there were for years before 1936. Washington state elects its Governors, and all its statewide state officers, in presidential years.

Louisiana, the third state with top-two open primaries, holds its primaries in even years in November.

California: the legislature is poised to pass AB 145, which makes it illegal for groups to pay registration drive workers on a per-registration card basis, "directly or indirectly." A similar bill had been defeated earlier this year.

New Mexico: on August 3, State Senator Howie Morales (D-Silver City) said he will introduce a bill in 2013 to let candidates pay a filing fee to get on primary ballots, in place of mandatory petitions.

Virginia: on August 27, State Senator Dick Black (R-Leesburg) said he will introduce a bill in 2013 to lower the number of signatures for presidential candidates, in both the primary and general election, from 10,000 signatures to 5,000.

national: on August 27, the groups that had filed a lawsuit against the postal regulation that bans petitioning on interior postal sidewalks asked the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, to reconsider the decision upholding the ban.

Arizona: on August 6, a lower state court ruled that the top-two open primary initiative violates the single-subject rule. The initiative abolishes elections for party office as well as instituting a top-two primary for public office. However, on August 17, the State Supreme Court restored it to the ballot, although it did not explain its reasoning. Save our Vote v Bennett. Afterwards, though, the state found that the initiative does not have enough valid signatures, and that issue is being litigated.

California: on August 21, the 9^th circuit ruled that the lawsuit Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County v Bowen should be sent to mediation. State law says no one may circulate a petition outside his home county, but the state says it doesn’t enforce the law. However, the Secretary of State’s web page mentions the restriction and does not say the law is not enforced. Also, the petition forces circulators to sign under penalty of perjury that they live in the district. The U.S. District Court had said the plaintiffs don’t have standing. The Ninth Circuit decision, which is very short, reveals that two judges tend to favor striking the law down, and one judge agrees with the lower court. But, instead of ruling, they sent the case to a mediator to see if both sides can settle the case.

Connecticut: on September 12, the State Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the Republican Party or the Democratic Party should be listed first on the ballot. Republican Party of Ct. v Merrill.

D.C.: on July 30, the Libertarian Party filed a federal lawsuit against the law that bans out-of-district circulators. Libertarian Party v Nichols, 12-1248.

D.C. (2): on August 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, refused to rehear Libertarian Party v D.C. Board of Elections. The issue is whether write-in votes for declared write-in candidates should be counted. Even though the original panel had said such votes need not be counted, there is still an opportunity to force the Board to count such votes. A federal law requires jurisdictions that vote for President to tell the National Archives how many valid votes were cast for each candidate for presidential elector. This point had not been mentioned in the lawsuit because the plaintiffs didn’t know about the federal law when they filed the case.

Maryland: on August 17, the State Court of Appeals upheld the ability of petitioning groups to use a web page to collect signatures. The signer can find a blank petition form on a particular web page, print the petition, sign the petition both as the signer and as the circulator, and get it in the hands of the petitioning group. Whitley v Maryland State Board of Elections, 133-2011. The Board had upheld the validity of such petitions, but the Democratic Party had sued to invalidate such petitions.

Michigan: on August 30, a U.S. District Court agreed to expedite the case Libertarian Party of Michigan v Ruth Johnson, the case over whether Gary Johnson should be on the ballot. The state is keeping him off because his name appeared on the Republican presidential primary earlier this year.

Michigan (2): on August 15, a Socialist Party candidate for U.S. House filed a lawsuit arguing that the ballot access law is unconstitutional because it discriminates against newly-qualifying parties, and in favor of old parties. Michigan requires 32,261 signatures for a new party, but says an old party may remain on the ballot if it polls 16,083 votes, a smaller number. Erard v Michigan Secretary of State, U.S. District Court, 2:12-cv-13627.

Nevada: on August 22, U.S. District Court Judge Robert C. Jones ruled that the law that puts "none of these candidates" on the ballot for statewide office is unconstitutional, because it says if "none" wins, the vote is ignored. The lawsuit had been filed by two Republican Party presidential elector candidates and some other voters. The state is appealing. Townley v State, 3:12-cv-310.

Ohio: on August 15, U.S. District Court Judge George C. Smith upheld the Secretary of State’s ruling that keeps Greg V. Jolivette off the November ballot as an independent candidate for State House. Jolivette had enough valid signatures, but the Secretary of State said he was too closely associated with the Republican Party (Jolivette had first planned to run in the Republican primary, but changed his mind). Jolivette did not vote in the 2012 Republican primary and Ohio doesn’t have registration by party, so the ruling is very arbitrary. Jolivette is appealing.

Tennessee: on July 4, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 6^th circuit, upheld the decision of the U.S. District Court in Kurita v The State Primary Board of the Tennessee Democratic Party, 08-6245.Both courts ruled that if the Democratic Party wished to unseat the winner of its primary for a State Senate seat, the party may do that. The decision is only three pages. The party had unseated her as its nominee because she had voted for a Republican for Senate President, and also the party alleged that some Republicans had voted in the Democratic primary.

Washington: on August 23, a lower state court ruled that the Republican Party is a ballot-qualified party, even though the law says a party is not ballot-qualified unless it polled 5% for a statewide race every two years, and even though parties no longer have nominees in this state (except for President). The judge said the Republican who ran for U.S. Senator was the party nominee because the party had a meeting and endorsed him. Libertarian Party of Washington v Reed. No appeal is planned.

The states above give state income-tax payers a chance to send a contribution to the political party of the taxpayer’s choice. The chart above lists the amounts received by each party. Ohio does not let taxpayers decide which party to help, and only lets taxpayers help parties that polled 20% in the last election. The other states let the taxpayer decide which party to help. Entries in the "Other" column are: Minnesota, Grassroots; Oregon $1,128 Working Families and $579 Progressive; Utah, Personal Choice.

Ballot Access News has been collecting this data starting in 2000, so those eleven years of data are summarized above. The ratio of the Democratic Party total to the Republican Party total is greater in 2012 than ever before, for 2000-2012.

#partisan label permitted (other than "independent").
"CONSTI" = Constitution Party.
*change since Aug. 1 issue.

The Party for Socialism and Liberation is on in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. Work is proceeding in Louisiana and Rhode Island.

The Socialist Workers Party is on in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Washington, and work is proceeding in Louisiana.

American Third Position is on in Colorado, New Jersey and Tennessee, and is working in Mississippi.

The Reform Party is on in Florida, Louisiana, and maybe Mississippi.

The Peace & Freedom Party is on in California, Colorado and Florida.

America’s Party is on in California, Colorado, and Florida. The nominee is Tom Hoefling.

The Socialist Party is on in Colorado and Ohio and finished in Florida.

The Socialist Equality Party is on in Colorado and Wisconsin.

The list above only covers parties whose presidential nominee is on in at least two states. The next B.A.N. will list the presidential candidates who are on in one state.

The Republican Party nominated Mitt Romney on August 28 for President, and Paul Ryan for Vice-President on August 29. The presidential vote was: Romney 2,061; Ron Paul 190; Rick Santorum 9; Buddy Roemer 1; Jon Huntsman 1; Michelle Bachman 1; abstain 18.

The Independent Party of Connecticut nominated Rocky Anderson for President on August 21.

Liberty Union Party nominated Stewart Alexander (Socialist Party presidential nominee) on August 12, but the 2009 Vermont law change said ballot-qualified parties had to have done that before June 14, so for the first time in its 40-year history, Liberty Union won’t have any presidential nominee on the Vermont ballot.

The Oregon Constitution Party, which is not associated with the national Constitution Party, nominated Will Christensen for President on August 18. Christensen is also the presidential nominee of the Independent American Party, but that party is not on the ballot in any state. Christensen’s Independent American Party is not associated with the Independent American Parties of Nevada or New Mexico.

The Michigan Natural Law Party nominated Rocky Anderson for President on August 4.

The Peace & Freedom Party of California nominated Roseanne Barr for President on August 4. The vote on the first ballot was Barr 29, Stephen Durham 18,Stewart Alexander 12, abstain 4. On the second ballot, the vote was Barr 37, Durham 16, Alexander 6, abstain 5.

The American Independent Party of California nominated Tom Hoefling on August 11. There were seven voting delegates present, and some of those present had proxies, so 20 votes were cast. The vote was unanimous.

The Reform Party nominated Andre Barnett for President, at its national convention in Philadelphia August 11-12. His running mate is Ken Cross.

On August 28, the Federal Election Commission released $100,000 in primary season matching funds to Jill Stein. This was her first payment, but she expects more later.

The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) recently appropriated $1,500 to help the pending Alabama ballot access lawsuit filed by the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties. COFOE obtains all its funding from the donations of readers like you.

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