Ballot Access News

New Jersey has a very old election law which could deprive the Republican Party of its own party column in the October 16, 2013 special U.S. Senate election. Section 19:15-1 says “No political party which fails to poll at any primary election for a general election at least 10% of the votes cast in the State for members of the General Assembly at the next preceding general election shall be entitled to have a party column on the official ballot at the general election for which the primary election has been held.”

In other words, even if a party is ballot-qualified and meets the state’s definition of “party”, it still isn’t automatically qualified for its own party column on the general election, if its primary turnout is quite low.

At the primary election for U.S. Senate election on August 13, 2013, the number of votes cast in the Republican Party primary was only 130,340 votes, which is far less than 10% of the vote cast for General Assembly at the 2011 election. Ten percent of the November 2011 vote is 259,775.

One of the independent candidates in the U.S. Senate election, Eugene LaVergne, filed a lawsuit on September 13, asking that the law be enforced and that the October 16, 2013 general election ballots place the Republican nominee, Steve Lonegan, in the same column in which all the independent candidates are listed. Normal New Jersey ballots in almost all counties have party columns, one headed “Democratic”, one headed “Republican” and one headed “By Petition.” The definition of “political party” in New Jersey is so stringent, no parties other than the Democratic and Republican Parties have been ballot-qualified since before 1920. The case is LaVergne v Lonegan, Mercer County L-1933-13.

However, the lawsuit will probably run up against the problem that the law defines “general election” to be “the annual election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.” Therefore, the special election for U.S. Senate would seem not to be a “general election.” The lawsuit will be heard on Friday, October 4, at 2 p.m. in Trenton.

On September 21, Roanoke College Polls released a new Virginia gubernatorial poll. It shows: Terry McAuliffe, Democrat, 35%; Ken Cuccinelli, Republican, 33%; Rob Sarvis, Libertarian, 8%; someone else (which would be a write-in) 2%; undecided 22%. It is unfortunate that the poll didn’t break down the results by the political party preference of the respondents. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.

Because the race between the two major party nominees is close, and because there is growing awareness that Rob Sarvis is in the race, one would think that whichever of the two major party nominees first declares that he favors a three-person debate would gain some popular support. So far both major party nominees refuse to include Sarvis in any debate.

Starting in 1920, the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives has published a booklet giving election returns for all federal office. The back of the book has a three charts. The first gives the vote for President by party for each state; the second for U.S. Senate; the third for U.S. House. These useful booklets give anyone a chance to see how many votes each party received in the entire nation, for all three types of election.

For the last twenty years, though, these charts have discriminated against minor parties. The charts show the Minnesota and North Dakota votes for Democratic nominees in the “Democratic Party” column. This is true, even though the Minnesota Democrats are on the ballot as “Democratic-Farmer-Labor” candidates, and even though the North Dakota Democrats are on the ballot as “Democratic-Nonpartisan League” candidates. The policy of putting Democratic nominees in the “Democratic” column is certainly sensible.

But for the Green Party column, the charts have a different policy. Because the Green Party also has a slightly different name in some states, the charts put Green Party votes from those states in the “Other Parties” column. The Green Party has a variety of names on ballots around the country, such as “Statehood Green” in the District of Columbia, “Green Independent” in Maine, “Rainbow Green” in Masschusetts, “Pacific Green” in Oregon, and “Mountain” in West Virginia. The book is not being consistent. It is treating the Democratic Party differently than it treats the Green Party.

As a result of this policy, the 2012 booklet shows that the Green Party’s presidential vote total is 401,164 votes, yet the Federal Election Commission, which does a far better job with its election returns, shows that the Green Party’s presidential nominee, Jill Stein, received 469,628 votes.

The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) held its annual meeting in New York city on July 14, and voted to send a letter on COFOE stationery to the Clerk of the U.S. House and ask that future copies of the book treat all parties equally. The COFOE letter was sent on July 24, and it still has received no answer, despite several phone inquiries to the Clerk’s office in August and September. I have asked my member of the U.S. House to inquire with the Clerk about this.

Please, if you wish to help, contact your member of the U.S. House and ask that your member also inquire about this matter with the Clerk. The Clerk serves at the pleasure of the Speaker of the House, so anyone who happens to live in John Boehner’s district, and who inquires with Boehner’s office, can be especially helpful. The name of the Clerk of the U.S. House is Karen L. Haas. If anyone wishes to write her directly, the address is B106 Cannon House Office Bldg., Washington DC 20515. Editions of the Clerk’s booklet issued before 1984 did not have this flaw. For example, in 1980, the Communist Party’s ballot label in Arkansas was “People Before Profits”, but the 1980 booklet still put the Arkansas votes in the “Communist Party” column.