January 1, 2003 – Volume 18, Number 9

1. GOOD BILLS SIGNED INTO LAW IN OHIO & PENNSYLVANIA
2. GREEN PARTY WINS N.Y. INJUNCTION
3. TWO SECRETARIES OF STATE SEEK BETTER BALLOT ACCESS
4. HIGH COURT REFUSES ARIZ. DEADLINE CASE
5. CANADA HIGH COURT LETS PRISONERS VOTE
6. NEBRASKA RULING
7. LAWSUIT NEWS
8. SUPPORT FOR IRV
9. 2002 VOTE FOR U.S. SENATE
10. 2002 VOTE FOR U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
11. 2002 VOTE FOR GOVERNORS
12. WISCONSIN LP WINS SEAT ON STATE ELECTIONS BOARD
13. CONSTITUTION PARTY WINS ITS FIRST PARTISAN ELECTION
14. DEMOCRATS SET CONVENTION DATE
15. PARTY LOSES ITS ONLY LEGISLATOR
16. INDEPENDENT LEGISLATORS
17. 2004 PETITIONING
18. ERRATA

GOOD BILLS SIGNED INTO LAW IN OHIO & PENNSYLVANIA

During December, state legislatures in Ohio and Pennsylvania passed bills that will help minor parties:

Ohio: HB 445 was signed into law on December 23. It repeals existing Ohio law, banning any ballot label for a candidate who qualifies for the November ballot by petition. Instead, it gives such a candidate a choice of two labels: (1) "other-party candidate"; (2) "nonparty candidate."

The vast majority of minor parties in Ohio qualify their candidates for the ballot by petition. It has long been a source of unhappiness that candidates who qualify for the November ballot by petition cannot have their party label printed on the ballot, next to their names. A majority of states let candidates who qualify for the November ballot by petition choose a partisan label, and Ohio did so between 1891 and 1947.

HB 445 doesn't restore the partisan label, but it is a half-way step toward restoring it. Probably in 2004, the Ohio November ballot will list a presidential candidate for the Republican Party, one for the Democratic Party, and then will list 4 or 5 other presidential candidates who will have the new label "other-party candidate."

Newspaper editorials and good government groups are likely to criticize that ballot. If the state prints on the ballot "other-party candidate," the logical question for everyone will surely be, "Well, which other party?" It should be possible to persuade the legislature to expand the label provision, perhaps in 2005 if not sooner, so that candidates can choose any label that is short and does not mimic the name of a fully-qualified party.

HB 445 was passed due to the efforts of the Natural Law Party, and a sympathetic legislator, Representative Merle Kearns.

Lawsuits to force the state to print partisan labels for petitioning candidates won in two different U.S. District Courts, but the 6th circuit overturned both victories.

Pennsylvania: SB 824 was signed into law on December 9. It deletes the requirement that petition signers must list their occupation on petitions. It also adds a place for signers to print their names. This will make it easier to validate signatures, since many individuals have signatures that are illegible.

In the past, Pennsylvania disqualified petition signatures if the signer left the "occupation" space completely blank. Seasoned circulators knew that if a line were drawn through the "occupation" space for a particular signer, then the absence of an occupation would not disqualify that signature. However, inexperienced circulators frequently did not know this trick, and petition validity for these inexperienced circulators suffered as a result.

GREEN PARTY WINS N.Y. INJUNCTION

The Green Party lost its status as a qualified party in New York on November 5, since it didn't poll 50,000 votes for Governor. It filed a lawsuit in federal court in Brooklyn, asking that voters continue to be allowed to register as members of the Green Party. Green Party of N.Y. v Board of Elections, 02-cv-6465.

On December 12, U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson, a Clinton appointee, issued a temporary injunction to prevent the state from automatically converting all registered Greens to independents. A hearing on the merits will be held January 16, 2003. Unqualified parties desire to maintain a voter registration list so that they can learn names and addresses of their supporters. Individual voters often have strong desires to be registered in particular parties, whether those parties are qualified or not. Similar lawsuits have won in Colorado, Oklahoma and New Jersey.

New York is one of only three states that doesn't provide a blank line in the "political party" choice area of the voter registration form.

TWO SECRETARIES OF STATE SEEK BETTER BALLOT ACCESS

In two states, at least, the Secretary of State will ask 2003 sessions of the legislature to improve ballot access for minor parties:

1. Nebraska: the proposal will provide that if a party meets the 5% vote test at either of the last two elections, it is qualified. Currently the vote test must be met at every even-numbered election. The bill will, however, eliminate the ability of a party to be qualified in only a single county.

2. North Dakota: the proposal will permit a presidential candidate who qualifies by petition for the November election, to choose a partisan label that will be printed on the ballot next to the candidate's name. North Dakota makes it easier to qualify an independent candidate than a new party, so most minor parties use the independent candidate procedure. North Dakota formerly permitted partisan labels for candidates who qualified by petition, but repealed this in 1989 (for presidential candidates) and in 1983 (for candidates for other office).

In addition, the proposal will make it possible for a new party petition to circulate during odd years. Currently a new party petition can only be circulated January-April of election years, when the weather is bad.

HIGH COURT REFUSES ARIZ. DEADLINE CASE

On December 16, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Browne v Bayless, 02-561, the Arizona case over the early June deadline. As a result, in 2004, the Arizona independent presidential deadline will be June 9, the second-earliest of any state. Only Texas is earlier. The case had won in the State Court of Appeals but lost in the State Supreme Court. It is possible the Arizona legislature will improve the deadline this year.

CANADA HIGH COURT LETS PRISONERS VOTE

On October 31, 2002, Canada's highest court ruled that prisoners must be permitted to vote in Canadian elections. Sauve v Canada Chief Electoral Officer, 2002 SCC 68. The vote was 4-3.

Canada's Charter says, "Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein." The majority based its decision on the Charter, and said, "The government has failed to identify particular problems that require denying the right to vote, making it hard to conclude that the denial is directed at a pressing and substantial purpose...Denying penitentiary inmates the right to vote is more likely to send messages that undermine respect for the law and democracy than messages that enhance those values...To deny prisoners the right to vote is to lose an important means of teaching them democratic values and social responsibility."

The dissent pointed out that the Charter cannot be taken literally, because if it were, then children could vote. The full 55-page decision is at www.lexum.umontreal.ca/csc-scc/en/rec/html/sauve2.en.html.

NEBRASKA RULING

Last month, the Nebraska Secretary of State ruled that if a party qualifies in every congressional district in the state, then it is qualified statewide. Nebraska is one of the few states in which a party can be fully-qualified in just a single congressional district, if it isn't qualified statewide.

At the November 2002, the Libertarian Party failed to poll the 5% needed to be a qualified statewide party. However, it did poll over 5% in two of the three congressional districts, for its candidates for Congress. The question was, if the Libertarian Party then did a petition to gain status as a qualified party in the missing district, would it be a statewide qualified party? The Secretary answered "yes." This "bootstrap" method of qualifying a statewide party has never before been used in any state.

LAWSUIT NEWS

1. Alaska: shortly before the election, the Green and Republican Moderate Parties jointly filed a lawsuit, asking that in future primaries, the state print a primary ballot listing nominees from both those parties, and let all voters choose that ballot. State law already lets parties decide to let all voters vote in their primaries. But state law doesn't permit two parties to have a single primary ballot containing all the candidates of those two different parties. In effect, the two parties are requesting a limited "blanket" ballot for themselves. Green Party v State, 3AN-02-10451.

2. California: on November 22, the 9th circuit, on its own motion, suggested a rehearing in Rubin v Santa Monica, 01-56091. California prints the occupation of candidates on the ballot. The issue is whether "activist" is an occupation. The candidate wanted to be listed as "Peace Activist." The candidate had lost earlier, but now the Court itself feels the issue should be re-argued. New briefs are being filed.

3. Florida: a group of former high-ranking U.S. Justice Department officials has filed an amicus brief in Johnson v Bush, the 11th circuit case over ex-felon voting rights. The officials argue that there is no law enforcement reason to continue to bar voting by ex-felons.

4. Georgia: a case is pending in federal court against Georgia's open primary. It was filed by supporters of Cynthia McKinney, who lost the Democratic primary earlier this year. Osburn v Cox, 1:02-cv-2721, n.d. The case depends on the federal Voting Rights Act, not the Constitution. No political party has joined the lawsuit.

5. Illinois: the last B.A.N. mentioned a lawsuit against the 25,000-signature requirement to run for Chicago Mayor. Proponents of the lawsuit had feared that Mayor Richard Daley would be unopposed, if no relief were gained. However, four candidates besides Daley filed petitions. Even though they didn't have enough, no one challenged any petition, so all 5 are on the ballot.

Illinois (2): a case is pending against state law that limits absentee voting to voters who are physically absent from their home county on election day. Griffin v Roupas, 02-c-5270, federal court, Chicago. Plaintiffs include voters who work long hours, and others who must care for young children during all hours that the polls are open.

6. New York: the Republican Party lost a ballot access case on September 21, and as a result had no candidate for U.S. House, 5th district. New York has tough petition requirements to get on primary ballots for district office. The candidate failed to get 1,250 signatures of registered Republicans. He argued that since redistricting was late, the normal petitioning period was unusually short, and therefore the signature requirement should be lowered, but the Court wasn't persuaded. Queens Co. Republican Comm. v State Bd. of Elections, 222 F Supp 2d 341.

7. Puerto Rico: on November 5, a hearing was held in federal court over a law that doesn't allow anyone to circulate a petition to create a new party, unless that person is a notary public as well as an attorney. There are only 7,000 such individuals in Puerto Rico. New parties need 100,694 signatures. Emilio v Melecio, 01-2132.

8. Virginia: a lawsuit is pending in federal court in Norfolk, against state law that makes it almost impossible for ex-felons to register to vote. Perry-Bey v Warner, 2:02-cv-836.

9. Washington: the 9th circuit will hear Washington Democratic Party v Reed on Feb. 6 in Seattle. The issue is whether the state can force political parties to use a blanket primary, in a state in which no voters are registered as members of any party.

SUPPORT FOR IRV

In the last few weeks, Instant-Runoff Voting has received editorial support from two Florida newspapers, the St. Petersburg Times and the Palm Beach Post. They argue that IRV could save the state the expense of run-off primaries. USA Today also again endorsed IRV.

2002 VOTE FOR U.S. SENATE

Other parties: Alaska, Alaskan Independence; Delaware, Independent Party; Minnesota, Independence Party; New Jersey, Conservative 6,404 and Socialist 2,702. The "independent" column contains independent candidates who were on the ballot, as well as the vote for declared write-in candidates. Scattered write-ins that were not broken down in official state election returns are not included. The Louisiana returns are for the November 5 election, not the December 7 run-off.

In 1996, when this same set of U.S. Senate seats was last up, the U.S. Senate totals for each party were: Republican 24,211,395; Democratic 23,490,651; Libertarian 375,794; Reform 286,898; Natural Law 204,971; Green 106,084; Constitution (then called US Taxpayer) 41,465; Socialist Workers 17,860; other parties 172,614.

2002 was the first election since U.S. Senators were first elected, that no candidates of any Marxist party appeared on the ballot for U.S. Senate. The United States has been electing U.S. Senators by popular vote since 1914. The longest-lived Marxist parties in the U.S. have been the Socialist Labor, Communist, and Socialist Workers Parties. However, the best showing by any Marxist party in a U.S. Senate election in U.S. history was by the Workers World Party in Ohio in 1992. The party polled 321,228 votes (6.7%) in a race that included a Democrat and a Republican.

2002 VOTE FOR U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The chart shows the strength of the Republican vote for U.S. House at the 2002 election: 50.56% of the voters voted Republican; 45.86% Democratic. This 4.7% margin of Republicans over Democrats contrasts sharply to the Republican margin in each of the three preceding elections (1996-2000), when it was always less than 1% of the total vote cast.

The Libertarian share of the U.S. House vote (1.6%) is worth noting. Except for the Libertarian share in 2000, which was 1.7%, this was the highest share of the U.S. House vote received by a minor party since 1948.

The vote for all minor party and independent candidates together was 3.59%. This was down from 2000, when it was 4.17%. The decline is not surprising, since more districts had minor party and independent candidates in 2000 than in 2002. There were 328 such districts in 2000, but only 293 districts in 2002.

The Constitution Party was the only nationally-organized party that polled more votes for U.S. House in 2002 than it did in 2000 (excluding the America First Party, which didn't exist in 2000, and which received 2,096 in 2002).

Other parties are: Florida, Independence; Iowa, Socialist Workers; Minnesota, Independence; Mississippi, America First; New Jersey, Conservative 1,606 and Socialist 771 and America First 665; New York, 199,829 Conservative and 128,774 Independence and 78,221 Working Families and 63,209 Right to Life and 18,126 Liberal; Oregon, Socialist; South Carolina, United Citizens; Vermont, Liberty Union 3,185 and Grassroots 2,344. The Ohio independent total includes 27,487 votes (15.1%) for former Congressman James Traficante, who was on the ballot as an independent even though he is in prison.

2002 VOTE FOR GOVERNORS

Other parties: Alaska, 2,185 Alaskan Independence and 1,506 Republican Moderate; California, Socialist Workers; Florida, 44 Christian and 28 Socialist Workers; Hawaii, Free Energy; Michigan, Socialist Workers; Minnesota, 364,534 Independence and 3,026 Socialist Workers; Nebraska, Nebraska Party; New York, 654,016 Independence and 176,848 Conservative and 90,533 Working Families and 44,195 Right to Life and 21,977 Marijuana Reform and 15,761 Liberal; Ohio, Socialist Workers; Vermont, 1,380 Progressive and 771 Grassroots and 625 Liberty Union. The "independent" column contains independent candidates who were on the ballot, as well as the vote for declared write-in candidates (unless the declared write-in candidates were party nominees; in that case the write-in candidates are in party columns). Scattered write-ins are not included above.

In 1998, when this same set of gubernatorial seats was last up, the gubernatorial totals for each party were: Republican 29,455,412; Democratic 25,149,416; Reform 1,355,731; Constitution (then called US Taxpayers) 423,176; Libertarian 362,337; Green 214,130; Natural Law 106,414; other parties 609,390.

The highest percentage for any minor party candidate for a statewide office in 2002 was in the Vermont Lieutenant Governor's race, for the Progressive Party. The vote was Republican 41.2%; Democratic 32.1%; Progressive 24.8%; Grassroots 1.9%.

WISCONSIN LP WINS SEAT ON STATE ELECTIONS BOARD

The Wisconsin Libertarian Party earned a place on the State Elections Board because it polled over 10% for Governor. That Board has existed since 1973 and this is the first time any party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties has been able to name a Board member. Other states with Election Boards are Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Virginia. Only Democrats and Republicans sit on the Board in those states.

CONSTITUTION PARTY WINS ITS FIRST PARTISAN ELECTION

The Constitution Party was formed in 1990 and until November 5, 2002, it had never won a partisan election. However, on that day, its nominee for Scott Township Trustee, Hamilton County, Iowa, was elected. Greg Moeller had the party name on the ballot next to his name. He polled 69 votes; a write-in campaign was launched against him, but only 13 write-ins were cast.

DEMOCRATS SET CONVENTION DATE

The Democratic presidential convention in 2004 will be July 26-29. The decision, made in late November, ended speculation that the Democrats might meet simultaneously with the Republicans (August 31-Sep. 2). The Republican convention is so late, the Republican Party must persuade state legislatures in several states to relax deadlines for qualified parties to notify states of their presidential and vice-presidential nominees. If the Democrats had picked the same late date, obviously both major parties would have worked together on this project. Now, the Republicans will need to work on this project alone.

PARTY LOSES ITS ONLY LEGISLATOR

The Republican Moderate Party, which was a ballot-qualified party in Alaska 1998-2002, elected a State Senator on November 5, 2002. However, the candidate, Tom Wagoner, a former Mayor of Kenai, changed his registration to "Republican" the day after the election.

INDEPENDENT LEGISLATORS

The last B.A.N. listed the eight minor party legislators elected in 2002, but didn't list the nine independents elected: William Lantigua in Massachusetts, Buddy DeLoach in Georgia, and William McManus in Rhode Island. Also these three in Vermont: William Johnson, Tom Pelham and Daryl Pillsbury. Also these three in Maine: Troy Jackson, Gary Sukeforth and Richard Woodbury. Vermont's Bernie Sanders was re-elected to Congress.

2004 PETITIONING

Changes since the Dec. 1, 2002 Ballot Access News:

1. Green Party: is now on the Maryland ballot, and has 5,000 signatures in North Carolina.

2. Libertarian Party: now has 3,500 signatures in Maryland, 75 in Nebraska, and 12,000 in Ohio.

ERRATA: the Dec. 1 B.A.N. said no minor party nominee had been elected to a State Senate (until 2002) since 1944. However, the American Party elected a State Senator from Tennessee in 1970. Also, the "2002 Vote for the Office at the Top of Ticket" accidentally omitted the Green Michigan vote of 25,236, and erroneously put the Ohio Natural Law Party vote into the Oklahoma row. These corrections have been made to the online version.