Connecticut Public Funding About to be Used for First Time in a Regularly-Scheduled Election

July 19th, 2008

Approximately 70% of all candidates running for the Connecticut legislature are expected to participate in the state’s public funding program. It passed in 2005 but was not in effect until 2007, when it was used for a few special elections. 2008 is the first time the system has been in usage for a regularly-scheduled election. This article in the Boston Globe about the Connecticut system does not mention that the Connecticut system is currently under attack in federal court over the parts that discriminate against minor party and independent candidates.



Oklahoma Press Covers Filing of Ballot Access Lawsuit

July 19th, 2008

News media in Oklahoma are covering the ballot access lawsuit filed by Bob Barr on July 17. Here is one story.

On a related note, the New York Times has a medium-sized story about the Ohio Libertarian Party ballot access victory. The print version is on page A13 and has a photo of Bob Barr. See that story here.

Nader Petitions Approved in Nevada & Washington

July 19th, 2008

On July 18, the Nevada Secretary of State announced that Ralph Nader’s independent petition has enough valid signatures.

A few days before that, the Washington Secretary of State made the same announcement. Thanks to the poster below for this information.

Nader is now officially on the ballot in 6 states, a number that will sharply increase in the next few weeks, as more of his petitions are submitted and presumably verified.

New York State Independence Party Leadership Consolidates More Power Over County Units of Party

July 18th, 2008

Some years ago, the New York Independence Party passed a Bylaw, giving control of nomination decisions in New York city to the state party committee, instead of the local county committes within New York city. The specific nomination decisions involved were on which non-members of the party could run in the Independence Party’s primary.

Now the state committee of the Independence Party has passed another bylaw, giving state party control over counties with a population greater than 750,000, but only for districts entirely within such counties. That bylaw seems to have been passed to alter the outcome in one particular State Senate race in Nassau County (part of Long Island). See this article for the details. The move is helpful to the Republican Party in that particular district.

USA Today Covers Ohio Libertarian Ballot Access Victory

July 18th, 2008

The July 18 USA Today has this story about the Libertarian Party’s ballot access ruling in Ohio.

Paul Jacob Preliminary Hearing Postponed (Oklahoma Petitioning Case)

July 18th, 2008

Paul Jacob and two other backers of an Oklahoma initiative have a criminal case pending against them, for allegedly conspiring to hire out-of-state circulators to work in Oklahoma. The preliminary hearing in that case had been set for July 23 in state court in Oklahoma City, but it has now been postponed. No new date has been set, but it is likely to be in September, the very month when the 10th circuit will be considering the civil case against the Oklahoma ban on out-of-state circulators for initiatives. The civil case is called Yes on Term Limits v Savage.

Venerable Kentucky Political Picnic Invites McCain, Obama, But Refuses Barr

July 18th, 2008

Fancy Farm is a small town in western Kentucky. For 128 years in a row, community leaders have held an annual Political Picnic, at which candidates for public office are invited to speak. The first presidential candidate who was invited, and accepted, was George Wallace. This year the Fancy Farm Political Picnic has invited Senators Obama and McCain, and holds out hope that they will accept. However, the organizers of the Picnic have told Bob Barr that he is not invited. Organizers said, “We rarely ask third party candidates.” The Picnic is held on the grounds of St. Jerome Catholic Church, not on public property. Therefore, the organizers are free to invite whom they wish. Thanks to IndependentPoliticalReport for this news. For more about the Picnic, see here.

Bill in Congress for Weekend Voting

July 18th, 2008

Congressman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) has introduced HR 6240. It would move federal election day from the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, to the first full weekend in November. Thanks to ElectionLawBlog for this news.

Courts in Two States Duel Over Reform Party Meeting

July 18th, 2008

A Reform Party national meeting in Dallas is scheduled to be held, commencing on Friday afternoon (July 18). The meeting was called to resolve the difficult issue of the identity of the national officers of the Reform Party. In early 2007, a federal jury trial in Florida had determined that the Tampa 2005 national convention of the Reform Party had not been valid. In late 2007, a state court in Texas had determined that the national convention before that one (in Yuma in early 2005) had also not been valid. The Texas court had appointed a professional parliamentarian to preside over a new national meeting.

One of the factions that does not wish to participate in the Texas meeting filed a lawsuit in state court in New York in response to the action of the Texas court. On May 28, the New York court set a hearing on whether the Texas meeting should be enjoined. On July 14, one of the plaintiffs in the New York case telephoned the hotel that is hosting the Dallas meeting, and explained that the hotel should cancel the Dallas meeting. On July 15, the Texas court held a hearing, at which the hotel manager participated. The hotel then determined that it would continue to host the meeting. On July 17, the New York court issued an order saying the plaintiffs in the New York case “will be irretrievably harmed if the defendants are permitted, in effect, to hijack the political parties and entities which appear, on these papers at least, to be in the legitimate domain of the plaintiffs.” However, as of Friday morning, it appears likely that the Dallas meeting will proceed on schedule.

Berkeley Green Party City Council Member Dies

July 18th, 2008

On July 13, Donna Spring died at the age of 55. She had been one of the Green Party’s longest-serving public officials. She was in her fourth four-year term on the Berkeley, California city council. She had been working for Instant-Runoff Voting in Berkeley since 1993. The voters of Berkeley approved the use of IRV several years ago, but it still hasn’t been implemented. Spring lived with rheumatoid arthritis and generally used a wheelchair. In the last two years she had participated by speakerphone at city council meetings, since it was difficult for her to obtain access to the city council chambers. She died of pneumonia, only three weeks since she last participated in a city council meeting. Thanks to Rob Richie for this news.

 

 

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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!

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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.
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The newsletter is published by and copyright by Richard Winger.