Green Party Watch Analyzes the Race for the Green Party Nomination

May 23rd, 2012

This Green Party Watch article sets out the delegate counts for president, for the Green Party. The national convention is July 13-15 in Baltimore. The article documents that Dr. Jill Stein has a considerable lead over Roseanne Barr, but Barr has the potential of gaining on her.



Gary Johnson Included in Public Policy Poll for Arizona

May 23rd, 2012

Independent Political Report at this link reports on a recent poll of the presidential election in Arizona, which includes Gary Johnson.

The Brad Blog Carries Article on California Top-Two System

May 23rd, 2012

The Brad Blog has this article about how California’s top-two “open primary” is working this year in the 26th U.S. House district. The piece is by Ernest A. Canning, who has degrees in Political Science and has been an attorney since 1977.

California Supreme Court Gives Itself Another Month to Decide Whether to Hear Legislative Qualifications Case

May 23rd, 2012

On April 2, Heidi Fuller asked the California Supreme Court to hear Fuller v Bowen, the case that challenges the refusal of the California Secretary of State to enforce the California Constitutional qualification that says legislative candidates must have lived in the district for a year before filing to run for that office. Normally the California Supreme Court would have decided by this week whether to hear the case. But on May 23, the Court pushed back the date by which it will decide that to June 29.

The Superior Court had ruled that the California Constitution’s one-year residency requirement violates the U.S. Constitution, and therefore the California Constitutional provision should not be enforced. But the State Court of Appeals had, in a sense, reversed the Superior Court, and said it doesn’t matter whether the California Constitutional provision violates the U.S. Constitution, because in any event the Secretary of State has no authority to judge qualifications and must let anyone run for the legislature without investigating any of their personal characteristics.

The trouble with that theory is that it would let anyone run for the legislature, regardless of that person’s age and that person’s current residency. And the trouble with the Superior Court decision is that federal and state court decisions, including U.S. Supreme Court decisions, overwhelmingly and unanimously agree that one-year residency requirements for legislative candidates do not violate the U.S. Constitution.

Virginia Lawsuit Against Ban on Out-of-State Circulators Moves Ahead

May 23rd, 2012

On May 22, U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney held a status conference in Libertarian Party of Virginia and Darryl Bonner v Charles Judd, 3:12-cv-367. This is the lawsuit filed by the Libertarian Party of Virginia against that state’s ban on out-of-state circulators. All briefs on whether the law is unconstitutional are due June 21, and it is expected that a decision will come by early July. The case is in the Eastern District.

Judge Gibney is the same judge who was assigned to two earlier cases on this same issue, neither of which resolved the issue because in both of the other cases, the plaintiffs withdrew from the case before it was over. In the first of those earlier cases, filed by several Republican presidential primary candidates, Judge Gibney had said the law is almost certainly unconstitutional, but he had not granted injunctive relief because that case had been filed so close to the primary. The second of those earlier cases had been filed by a Democratic candidate for Congress, Bruce Shuttleworth, but he dropped his lawsuit after the Democratic Party of Virginia changed its mind and said he had enough valid signatures, regardless of whether signatures collected by a resident of the District of Columbia were included or not.

Free Times of Columbia, South Carolina, Offers Detailed Explanation of South Carolina Ballot Access Mess

May 23rd, 2012

The Free Times from Columbia, South Carolina, has this very detailed explanation of this year’s ballot access problem in South Carolina, in which approximately 200 Republican and Democratic candidates for state and local office were kept off the June 12 primary ballot. This is the most detailed explanation known to have been published.

Arizona Secretary of State Tries Unsuccessfully to Obtain President Obama’s Birth Certificate from Hawaii

May 22nd, 2012

Talking Points Memo has obtained, via a state Freedom of Information Act, a chain of communications between Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, and various Hawaii officials, over whether Bennett may obtain a copy of President Obama’s birth certificate. Here is the chain of e-mails. As one can read, Hawaii refused his request. Talking Points Memo does not say whether it used Hawaii’s Freedom of Information Act, or Arizona’s Freedom of Information Act, to get this exchange. Chances are it is the Arizona Freedom of Information Act. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Link to Arkansas Primary Election Returns

May 22nd, 2012

The Arkansas Secretary of State’s web page has election returns for the May 22 primary here. In the Republican presidential primary, Mitt Romney has 71.0% of the vote against several opponents. In the Democratic primary, the results as of 9:10 p.m. central time are: President Obama 58.7%, John Wolfe 41.3%.

Arkansas has an open primary.

Link to Kentucky Primary Election Returns

May 22nd, 2012

The web page of the Kentucky State Board of Elections has primary election returns. As of 9 p.m. eastern, Mitt Romney is winning 66.8% of the vote in the Republican primary against several opponents. In the Democratic primary, President Obama is winning 59.0% against the only other choice on the ballot, which is “uncommitted.” See this link.

Kentucky has a closed primary.

U.S. District Court Grants Injunctive Relief Against California’s Deadline for Newly-Qualifying Parties

May 22nd, 2012

On May 22, U.S. District Court Judge Percy Anderson granted injunctive relief to the Constitution Party and the Justice Party, against California’s January deadline for newly-qualifying parties to get on the ballot. The case is California Justice Committee, et al v Bowen, 2:12cv03956. Here is the order.

Injunctive relief can only be granted when there is a substantial likelihood that the challenged law is unconstitutional. It is likely that in the near future, the California deadline will be held unconstitutional and the legislature will need to write a better law. This is the first ballot access law affecting minor parties and independent candidates in California that has been either enjoined or declared unconstitutional since 1988. In 1988, a U.S. District Court struck down California’s old 60-day period for independent presidential candidates. The legislature then expanded it to 105 days.

This new California development will assist similar deadline lawsuits now pending in Oklahoma, Alabama, North Carolina, Montana, and New Mexico. It will also help to retain the victory already won against Ohio, where the state legislature is still appealing. UPDATE: here is a press release about the decision.

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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!

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]

    ThirdPartyNews.net

    A site that covers news about minor parties.
    [Checked:060414]

    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]

    Initiative For Texas

    A group trying to establish the right to Initiative and Referendum in Texas. Their work has intriguing parallels and overlaps with ballot access work. Every page at the site seems to have some music on it, which can get annoying after awhile, but otherwise it's an interesting site.
    [Checked:991014]

    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.