Ballot Access News

On March 20, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley refused to enjoin a new Ohio election law that says independent candidate petitions must be completed within one year of the starting date. Duncan v Husted, southern district, 2:13cv1157. The decision says that the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken approvingly of ballot access schemes in which the petitioning period was even shorter than one year.

The only state interest the order mentions is that the state will do a better job of checking petitions if the petitioning period is limited to one year (the candidate chooses the one-year period). It says, “Defendant argues that the State has a strong interest in creating a fair and robust process for validating the signatures for every independent candiate, which can take a considerable amount of time and often results in the invalidation of many petition signatures. Thus the State alleges that the shorter, one-year time frame imposed by the amended statutes would make invalidation less likely.”

On March 25, the Montana Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that the top-two ballot measure the legislature put on the 2014 ballot has technical flaws. MEA-MFT v State of Montana, OP 13-0789. Therefore, it cannot appear on this year’s November ballot. Here is the ten-page opinion, along with a two-page concurrence, and a 10-page dissent by Justice Laurie McKinnon.

Montana law says the title of a ballot measure put on the ballot by the legislature can’t exceed 100 words. The legislature had written a ballot title of almost 200 words. The title is lengthy because it includes all the election code sections being amended. The legislature had then defended itself in this lawsuit by saying that code section references, which are numbers, aren’t words. But the majority on the Supreme Court disagreed. Five of the justices also felt the title is confusing.

The 2013 session of the legislature had put the measure on the ballot because the majority of legislators are Republicans, and were upset that in 2012, the Libertarian Party nominees for Governor and U.S. Senator prevented either major party nominee from receiving a majority of the vote. Democrats won both elections. The Republican majority in the legislature in 2013 then determined that if Montana had a top-two system, there would be no more minor party candidates on the general election. The majority didn’t simply pass a bill for a top-two system because if it had passed an ordinary bill, the Democratic Governor would have vetoed it. But by putting a ballot measure on the ballot, the legislature was able to bypass the Governor.

If the legislature were in session in 2014, in theory the majority could pass a new top-two measure that has fewer than 100 words in its title. The opinion says there is no requirement that the title include all the code sections being amended. However, the legislature is not in session this year. Thanks to Mike Fellows for this news.

The only statewide office on the ballot in Missouri this year is Auditor. The only three candidates who have filed in any party’s primary are the Republican incumbent, Tom Schweich; the Libertarian, Sean O’Toole, and the Constitution Party candidate, Rodney Farthing.

An independent candidate, or a newly-qualifying party, could still enter the race with a petition signed by 10,000 signatures, due in late July.

Parties stay on the ballot in Missouri by polling 2% for any statewide race at either of the last two elections. Therefore, because parties remain on the ballot for two elections after meeting the vote test, the Democratic Party will retain its status as a qualified party, notwithstanding its failure to run anyone this year.

The Green Party could easily recover its qualified party status in Missouri by submitting 10,000 valid signatures this year and running someone for Auditor. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.