On October 3, the Alabama Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties asked for reconsideration in Stein v Chapman. Last month the U.S. District Court upheld the law that requires newly-qualifying parties to submit their 44,829 valid signatures by March. The District Court had said because the three parties were able to place their presidential nominees on the November 2012 ballot as independent candidates (which requires 5,000 signatures by September of the election year), the burden on them and their voters is “slight.”
The U.S. District Court based its decision on the U.S. Supreme Court 1997 decision that upheld a Minnesota state law that made it impossible for a candidate nominated by two parties to have both party names on the ballot next to his or her name. The Alabama court said therefore, keeping all of a party’s nominees from having their party name is also a “slight” burden. The request for rehearing points out the obvious difference between keeping a single nominee from having a party label on the ballot, versus depriving all of a party’s nominees of a party label.
Richard,
You wrote something in a previous post about a party being able to get county-level ballot access in Alabama. How does that work?
An Alabama petition to put a new party on the ballot can be circulated in the state as a whole, or in just one US House district, or one legislative district, or one county. The Libertarian Party is currently working on a Jefferson County petition for 2014. These petitions are to qualify the party and do not contain the name of any candidates; they are chosen later.
How may signatures are needed? What is the vote test to maintain the ballot line?
The petitions are 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, which is almost 45,000 for the state as a whole. This 3% was passed in 1995 and put into use in 1997. In all the 16 years since it was implemented, the only groups that have completed the petition statewide were the Libertarian Party in 2000, and Americans Elect in 2011. Back in 2000 the deadline was July. Then it was moved to June, and then to March.
The vote test is 20%, the highest in the nation. Before 1983 it was zero votes and parties could remain on the ballot just by being organized. Also there was no petition for a new party to get on the ballot before 1971. The petition passed in 1971 was 5,000. Then it was increased to 1%, and then 3%. This state started out with an excellent law and over the years has completely wrecked it.
Thanks, Richard. Do you need 20% of the vote to maintain county-level ballot access? If so, for which offices?
Any office counts.