Many North Carolina Election Law Bills Fail to Meet Legislative Deadline

May 14th, 2013

The deadline has now passed in the North Carolina legislature for bills to have passed out of the policy committee in the house of origin. Many election law bills failed to meet that deadline. They include HB 185, to alter the order of political parties on the ballot; HB 38, to abolish run-off primaries; SB 39, to make judicial elections partisan; and SB 82 and HB 185, to abolish the straight-ticket device.



Texas Term-Limits Bill for Executive Statewide Offices Moves Ahead

May 14th, 2013

The Texas House will vote on May 15 on SJR 13. This is a proposed constitutional amendment that would impose term-limits on statewide executive posts, including Governor. The proposal would limit office-holders to two consecutive terms. Service before 2014 would not count against any office-holder. The proposal has passed the Senate and the policy committee in the House. If it is signed into law, the voters will vote on it in November 2013. Thanks to Jim Riley for this news.

Law Professor Vikram Amar Analysis Says Initiative Process Can be Used to Alter Election Laws on Electoral College

May 14th, 2013

Law Professor Vikram Amar has just made this scholarly paper available. It analyzes whether or not the initiative process can be used to alter state laws on presidential elector selection, and concludes that Article Two does not bar the use of initiatives for that purpose. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Massachusetts Bill that Lets Each U.S. House District Elect its own Presidential Elector has Hearing

May 14th, 2013

The Massachusetts Joint Committee on Election Laws will hear H 652 on Wednesday, May 15, at 2 p.m. The bill says each U.S. House district should elect its own presidential elector.

Maine Ranked-Choice Voting Defeated in Committee

May 13th, 2013

On May 13, the Maine Joint Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee defeated LD 1422, a bill that would have established ranked-choice voting for congressional and state office, and also established a presidential primary. This was a peculiar bill, because those are two entirely different subjects wrapped up in the same bill. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.

North Carolina Bill to Study Ballot Access Passes House

May 13th, 2013

On the evening of May 14, the North Carolina House passed HB 794 by a vote of 109-5. The bill requires the legislature to appoint a committee composed of state legislators who will study ballot access after the 2013 sitting is over. The committee will take public testimony and prepare a report, and the 2014 half of this current session will then address the issue. UPDATE: here is a news story that mentions this outcome.

United Independent Party Will Try to Qualify for Party Status in Massachusetts for 2014 Election

May 13th, 2013

The United Independent Party, which exists only in Massachusetts, is attempting to qualify for party status. See here for the party’s web page, which asks readers to change their voter registration to join the party. If it can persuade 1% of the registered voters to join the party, it will be a qualified party.

The group is running Evan Falchuk for Governor in 2014. He is vice-president of Best Doctors, Inc., a company that helps companies deal with health insurance and also helps individuals to obtain second opinions for health problem diagnoses. If the party is unable to qualify by registration, Falchuk can get on the November 2014 with the party label by submitting 10,000 valid signatures next year.

Ever since 1991, it has been theoretically possible for a group to attain party status by persuading 1% of the voters to register into the party, but no group has ever successfully used this method.

North Carolina Ballot Access Brief Filed in Fourth Circuit

May 13th, 2013

On May 13, the North Carolina Green Party, and the North Carolina Constitution Party, filed this opening brief in the 4th circuit. The case challenges the mid-May petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. The case is Pisano v Bartlett, 13-1368.

Constitutional Amendment Guaranteeing the Right to Vote Introduced in U.S. House

May 13th, 2013

On May 13, two members of the U.S. House introduced a proposed constitutional amendment guaranteeing all adult citizens the right to vote. The sponsors are Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) and Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin). The bill number hasn’t been assigned yet.

The proposed amendment reads, “Section 1. Every citizen of the United States, who is of legal voting age, shall have the fundamental right to vote in any public election held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen resides. Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.”

If this were enacted, ex-felons and felons in all states were gain the franchise. It is not clear whether the amendment, if enacted, could be used to strike down restrictive ballot access laws for candidates. The U.S. Supreme Court has said in the past, “The right to vote includes the right of choice for whom to vote.” Certainly a voter in Oklahoma, a state that has prevented its voters from voting for anyone for President other than the Democratic and Republican nominees in each of the last three presidential general elections, would have a strong case against the Oklahoma ballot access laws. Thanks to Rick Hasen for news about the proposed amendment.

New Idaho Voter Registration Data

May 13th, 2013

As of May 6, 2013, Idaho reports these voter registration figures: Republican 239,002; Democratic 55,254; independent or miscellaneous 439,715; Libertarian 3,156; Constitution 1,500.

Voter registration by party is new in Idaho. It only started in 2012. The tally last year showed far fewer members of parties, since the procedure was new and party totals essentially started from zero. The 2012 figures, for example, only showed 362 Libertarians and 225 Constitution Party members.

 

 

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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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Additional articles/essays:

  • 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]

    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.