MINOR PARTY PETITIONS ELIMINATED IN FLORIDA, OHIO

Some additional minor parties will be able to be on the Florida and Ohio ballots in 2012 with no petitions, as a result of two decisions during September 2011.

Florida

On September 1, the Florida Secretary of State issued a ruling saying he will not require any qualified party to submit a petition to place its presidential nominee on the general election ballot. This preserves the old, lenient procedure that has existed in Florida since 2000. The ruling had been requested by Americans Elect, a new political party that is trying to get on the ballot for President in all states.

House Bill 1355, passed this year by the Florida legislature, says a qualified party that is not recognized by the Federal Election Commission must submit a petition signed by a number of voters equal to 1% of the registered voters as of the last election. For 2012, the new law requires 112,174 signatures, due July 15. But, now that law won’t be enforced.

Florida makes it easy for a group to become a qualified party. It must merely file a list of its party officers. Under the old law, qualified parties could put a presidential nominee on the ballot if they showed that the nominee was on the ballot in at least one other state, if that party had a national convention, and if it submitted a list of presidential elector candidates who were registered members of the party.

The ruling interprets Florida law, and also court precedent, to say that the Secretary of State cannot look beyond the candidacy papers presented by the party and the candidate. The Secretary of State has no official knowledge of which parties are recognized by the Federal Election Commission.

The FEC recognizes the Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Socialist, Natural Law, Constitution, Reform, and Green Parties. The FEC will not recognize a party as a "national committee" until after that party has participated in federal elections. The new Florida law, therefore, discriminates against new parties.

The ruling warns that any presidential candidate’s ballot position could be challenged by a private individual, and refers to the 2004 instance when the Florida Secretary of State had put Ralph Nader on the ballot as the Reform Party nominee, and the some Democrats had sued to reverse the decision, on the grounds that the Reform Party wasn’t a real political party. That argument was rejected by the Florida Supreme Court, and Nader appeared on the ballot.

In 2012, if anyone files a challenge to the Secretary of State’s action putting any presidential candidate on the ballot, the Secretary of State, and that candidate, will undoubtedly protect themselves by showing that the Florida Constitution, Article VI, sec. 1, says "The requirements for a candidate with no party affiliation or for a candidate of a minor party for placement of the candidate’s name on the ballot shall be no greater than the requirements for a candidate of the party having the largest number of registered voters."

Besides Americans Elect, this ruling helps the Socialist Workers Party, the Prohibition Party, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. These are also parties which are not recognized by the FEC. The ruling protects parties that may form in the future.

The Secretary of State’s ruling also says that if a party wants to submit the 112,174-signature petition, the petition need not mention the name of the presidential nominee.

Ohio

On September 7, U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley granted an injunction against the state’s new ballot access law, passed this year, which requires 38,525 signatures due February 7, 2012. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, s.d., 2:11-cv-722. This court order puts the Libertarian Party on
the ballot in 2012, and makes it likely that any other party that can show a modicum of support can persuade the Secretary of State to put it on the ballot as well. "Modicum of support" in these cases can include evidence of support in other states.

The basis for the ruling is that a February petition deadline is too early. The decision cites the 3^rd circuit ruling in a New Jersey case that struck down an April petition deadline, even though only 800 signatures were needed. Early deadlines themselves are unconstitutional, regardless of how many signatures are required. The state will not appeal.

Although the Ohio legislature is still in session, there are no bills pending to amend the ballot access law.

On August 30, U.S. District Court Joseph Bataillon, a Clinton appointee, struck down the Nebraska ban on out-of-state circulators. Citizens in Charge v Gale, 4:09cv-3255. This is a very significant victory, because Nebraska is in the 8^th Circuit, and in 2001 the 8^th Circuit had upheld North Dakota’s ban on out-of-state circulators. The Nebraska ruling says that in the North Dakota case, the people who had sued to overturn the ban had not presented evidence showing that the ban is a significant burden. But in the Nebraska case, they did. The state probably won’t appeal.

On September 13, the Third Circuit put Carl Lewis on the November 8, 2011 ballot as the Democratic nominee for State Senate, 8^th district. The U.S. District Court had refused to put Lewis on, as had the state courts. The vote was 2-1. The case is Lewis v Guadagno, 11-3401.

But, the Republican Party, which had intervened in the case, then asked for a rehearing. The same three judges then held another hearing on September 20, and then on September 22 issued a contrary ruling, voting 3-0 that Lewis should not be on the ballot. The new ruling did not even mention the panel’s previous ruling. There is no explanation in the latest decision of what was erroneous in the earlier decision.

The issue is whether New Jersey’s Constitutional provision requiring candidates for the State Senate to have lived in the state for four years violates the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court has never issued an opinion on the constitutionality of duration of residency requirements for candidates for office. But in 1982, the U.S. Supreme Court did uphold a Texas law, saying no one could run for the legislature who was in the middle of his or her term for certain local offices. In that case, Clements v Fashing, the Supreme Court said the right to be a candidate is not a fundamental right. However, Clements v Fashing is a weak precedent, because it has no majority opinion. There is a 4-judge opinion upholding the law, and a 4-judge dissent, and the ninth judge, John Paul Stevens, wrote his own opinion which does not agree with either side completely.

It is unfortunate that the Third Circuit changed its mind and ruled against Lewis. If the Third Circuit had stuck to its original ruling, chances are high that the case would then have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court, which very likely would have heard it.

On September 7, the California legislature came close to removing write-in space from the general election ballot, but at the end of the day write-ins survived. Assemblymember Paul Fong, chair of the Elections Committee, had recently eliminated all the original contents of his AB 1413, and replaced them with new provisions, including a provision to repeal the law that says voters are entitled to cast a write-in vote for any office "in any election". His revised bill also repeals the law saying write-in space should be printed on the ballot in all elections.

The bill (in its original form) had already passed the Assembly. On September 7, the Senate Elections Committee was scheduled to hear this bill. But just as the hearing was about to start, it was called off, without explanation. The Committee never did hear the bill, and the legislature has now gone home for the year. The bill could theoretically be revived in January 2012.

Idaho: on September 19, the 9^th circuit ruled that Idaho Republican Party v Ysursa is moot. The case had been filed in 2008 by the Republican Party, to prevent members of other parties from voting in its primaries. The party won the case in March 2011 and the legislature then changed the law to say that parties could limit voting in their primaries to people who sign in as members. Some voters who were unhappy with the decision then appealed the case to the 9^th circuit, but the 9^th circuit ruled, "If a challenged law is amended or expires, the case becomes moot." The order is signed by Judges Michael Hawkins, Richard Clifton, and Sandra Ikuta.

South Carolina: a trial will begin on August 1, 2012, in the Republican Party’s lawsuit to keep members of other parties from voting in its primary.

California: on September 19, the State Court of Appeals upheld two aspects of the top-two system. The Court said that it is constitutional to provide that members of qualified parties may list their party labels on the ballot and yet members of unqualified parties may not. The ruling says voters would be confused if all candidates could list the party they are registered in. The ruling also says that there is a constitutional problem with the existing law, which says that any voter may cast a write-in vote, but that such votes can’t be counted in November for Congress and state office. The court therefore ordered the Secretary of State not to print write-in space on the ballot, even though the existing law says she should, and even though the Court did not say the existing law on write-in space is unconstitutional. The case is Field v Bowen, A129829.

A different set of plaintiffs has a similar case pending in the 9^th circuit. That case is Chamness v Bowen. On August 23, a U.S. District Court in this case had upheld the two challenged laws (the law on party labels and the law that says write-ins
can’t be counted).

New York: on September 8, the Board of Elections decided not to contest the lawsuit that had been filed last year by the Conservative Party and the Working Families Party, over the way the state had been counting votes. The old policy was that when a voter voted for the same candidate twice, once under two different party labels, that vote should be given to the party that appeared first on the ballot. Because the Democratic and Republican Parties always appear first on the ballot, this deprived the minor parties of that vote. From now on, the machine will alert a voter who votes twice for the same candidate that a mistake has been made, and ask if the voter wants to try again, and this time just vote once. Conservative Party v N.Y. State Bd. of Elections, 10 cv 6923.

Vito Marcantonio: Radical Politician 1902-1954, by Gerald Meyer. Paperback, 303 pages, published by State University of New York Press.

This book, first published in 1989, has just had its Fourth reprinting. It tries to answer the question of how a minor party member of Congress who was bitterly denounced for generally supporting the Communist Party line was able to get re-elected so many times.

Vito Marcantonio was a registered member of the Republican Party when he was first elected to Congress in 1934, but most of the time he served in Congress, he was enrolled in the American Labor Party. The last time he was re-elected, in 1948, both major parties opposed him, but he still won. He is the last minor party member elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (excepting candidates who had the cross-nomination of either the Democratic or Republican Party). Although it is true Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., was elected to the U.S. House on the Liberal Party line alone in a 1949 special election, Roosevelt was not a registered member of the Liberal Party.

One might think that the residents of Marcantonio’s congressional district were generally radical and that explains Marcantonio’s success, but that would not be accurate. Marcantonio represented northeast Manhatten, which is not the part of Manhatten that had sent Socialist Party nominees to the state legislature and even to Congress in the 1910’s decade. Marcantonio’s constituents were Italian and Puerto Rican, and after the 1944 redistricting, also some German and Irish.

The book explains how the American Labor Party was able to protect Marcantonio, and get him re-elected, by making his re-election its first priority.

To do that, the ALP skillfully transferred its support between Democrats and Republicans, in state legislative races and in other partisan races, such as for City Council. The ALP was strong enough so that its cross-endorsement of major party nominees was valuable, even as late as 1949. The ALP couldn’t prevent the Democratic Party from running a nominee against Marcantonio in 1948, but it did have enough influence to cause the Democrats to nominate a weak candidate.

Marcantonio also was strong because he lived in the district, in a humble apartment building, and was constantly interacting with the people in his district, which was a physically small district. Even though he had no wealth, and congressional salaries in the 1940’s were not large, he frequently helped constituents with money when they were desperately in need. The book is very enjoyable reading.

In the Balance of Power: Independent Black Politics and Third-Party Movements in the United Statesby Omar H. Ali. Paperback, 244 pages, published by Ohio University Press, 2008.

For most of the nation’s history, black citizens have been treated unequally by federal and state laws. This book reveals the extensive political activity that black Americans engaged in, even in the period of legalized slavery, in their fight for equal treatment under the law. Black activists tried to work with virtually every political party that was formed, from 1840 on. This included the major parties and the minor parties. Even history books that are devoted entirely to minor parties do not generally cover the information that is included in this book.

The book is especially interesting when it covers the 1910’s decade, and how the Progressive Party, the Socialist Party, and the major parties all toyed with the hopes of black Americans, but ultimately did very little for them. Anyone interested in U.S. political history will enjoy this book. The author is a history professor in North Carolina.

The last B.A.N. listed the amount of money each party received from state income tax forms, for 13 states. But Oregon was erroneously omitted.

This year, Oregon parties have received: Democratic $16,395; Republican $4,507; Green $957; Independent Party $705; Progressive $432; Working Families $429; Libertarian $390; Constitution $201.

The chart below shows the last time when a previously unqualified party completed some task to put
itself on the statewide ballot.

The chart makes it easy to identify the states with the worse ballot access requirements for parties to get on the ballot. The chart shows eight states in which no group has qualified since 2000 or before. The chart assumes that the Americans Elect petition in California will succeed. The signatures have been submitted. Verification already completed in sixteen counties suggests that the petition does have enough valid signatures.

The Tennessee entry shows that a procedure was last used in 2000. In 2000 only, the state let candidates who used the independent petition procedure (which is very easy) choose a party label that was printed on the ballot. If Tennessee had not done this, the Tennessee entry in the chart would be 1968, not 2000. No one has finished the petition to establish a new party in Tennessee since George Wallace did it in 1968.

State	Petition type	Year	Who Did It?	Requirement
Alabama	party petition	2000	Libertarian	39,536 signatures
Alaska	president-only petition	2011	Americans Elect	3,271 signatures
Arizona	party petition	2011	Americans Elect	23,041 signatures
Arkansas	party petition	2011	Libertarian	10,000 signatures
California	party petition	2011	Americans Elect	1,030,040 signatures
Colorado	candidate petition	2010	Indp. Reform	1,000 signatures
Connecticut	candidate petition	2010	Working Families, Indp. Pty	7,500 signatures
Delaware	registration	2010	Working Families	305 registrations
D.C.	candidate petition	2010	Socialist Workers	3,000 signatures
Florida	file list of officers	2011	Americans Elect	just be organized
Georgia	party petition	2000	Reform	39,094 signatures
Hawaii	party petition	2010	Green	692 signatures
Idaho	party petition	1996	Reform, Natural Law	9,644 signatures
Illinois	candidate petition	2010	Libertarian	25,000 signatures
Indiana	candidate petition	2000	Reform	30,717 signatures
Iowa	candidate petition	2010	Libertarian	1,500 signatures
Kansas	party petition	2011	Americans Elect	16,776 signatures
Kentucky	candidate petition	2011	Libertarian	5,000 signatures
Louisiana	candidate fee	2008	Consti, Tax, Prohi, SW, S&L	pay $500
Maine	candidate petition	2004	Constitution, Libertarian	4,000 signatures
Maryland	party petition	2011	Green, Libertarian	10,000 signatures
Mass.	candidate petition	2010	Green	10,000 signatures
Michigan	party petition	2011	Americans Elect	32,261 signatures
Minnesota	candidate petition	2010	Green, Grass.,Resource, Eco	2,000 signatures
Mississippi	file list of officers	2007	Unity ‘08	just be organized
Missouri	party petition	2008	Constitution	10,000 signatures
Montana	party petition	2006	Constitution	5,000 signatures
Nebraska	party petition	2010	Libertarian	4,880 signatures
Nevada	party petition	2011	Americans Elect	7,013 signatures
New Hamp.	candidate petition	2010	Libertarian	3,000 signatures
New Jersey	candidate petition	2009	Socialist, Libertarian	800 signatures
New Mexico	party petition	2010	Libertarian	4,151 signatures
New York	candidate petition	2010	Libt, Green, Rent, Anti-Prohi	15,000 signatures
No. Carolina	party petition	2008	Libertarian	69,734 signatures
No. Dakota	party petition	2010	Libertarian	7,000 signatures
Ohio	party petition	2000	Natural Law, Libertarian	33,543 signatures
Oklahoma	party petition	2000	Libertarian	43,680 signatures
Oregon	party petition	2008	Peace	20,640 signatures
Pennsylvania	candidate petition	2008	Libertarian	24,666 signatures
Rhode Island	party petition	2010	Moderate	23,589 signatures
So. Carolina	party petition	2006	Working Families	10,000 signatures
So. Dakota	party petition	2008	Constitution	3,117 signatures
Tennessee	candidate petition	2000	Reform, Green, Libertarian	275 signatures
Texas	party petition	2010	Green	43,991 signatures
Utah	10 for president	2008	Green, PFP, Socism & Lib	1,000 signatures
Vermont	file list of officers	2010	Working Families	just be organized
Virginia	candidate petition	2008	Indp Green, Libt., Green	10,000 signatures
Washington	candidate petition	2008	Libt, Const, Green, SW, S&L	1,000 signatures
West Va.	candidate petition	2011	American Third Position	1,720 signatures
Wisconsin	candidate petition	2010	Constitution, Libertarian	2,000 signatures
Wyoming	party petition	2000	Natural Law, Reform	3,485 signatures

S TATE	REQUIREMENTS		SIGNATURES COLLECTED				DEADLINES
	FULL PARTY	CAND	LIB’T	GREEN	CONSTI	AM. ELE	Party	Indp.
Ala.	44,829	5,000	0	0	0	*20,000	Mar. 13	Sep. 6
Alaska	(reg) 7,406	#3,271	already on	2,155	*18	already on	June 1	Aug. 8
Ariz.	23,041	(est) #27,000	already on	already on	0	already on	Mar. 1	Sep. 7
Ark.	10,000	#1,000	already on	*3,000	0	0	June 30	Aug. 1
Calif.	1,030,040	172,859	already on	already on	in court	finished	*Jan. 2	Aug. 10
Colo.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	already on	*7,500	Jan. 8	June 4
Conn.	no procedure	#7,500	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 8
Del.	(est.) (reg) 650	(est.) 6,500	already on	*540	*550	0	Aug. 21	July 15
D.C.	no procedure	(est.) #3,900	can’t start	already on	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 21
Florida	*0	112,174	already on	already on	already on	*already on	*Sep. 1	July 15
Georgia	57,956	#57,558	already on	0	0	*6,000	Aug. 6	Aug. 6
Hawaii	691	#4,536	already on	*500	0	finished	Feb. 22	Sep. 7
Idaho	13,102	1,000	already on	0	already on	0	Aug. 30	Aug. 24
Illinois	no procedure	#25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	June 25
Indiana	no procedure	#34,195	already on	0	0	0	– – –	June 30
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	0	0	0	0	– – –	Aug. 17
Kansas	16,776	5,000	already on	0	0	already on	June 1	Aug. 6
Ky.	no procedure	#5,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Sep. 7
La.	(reg) 1,000	#pay $500	already on	already on	0	0	May 17	Sep. 4
Maine	28,639	#4,000	0	already on	0	*500	Dec 8, 11	Aug. 8
Md.	10,000	(est.) 35,000	already on	already on	0	0	Aug. 6	Aug. 6
Mass.	(est) (reg) 40,000	#10,000	15,857	already on	0	0	Nov. 1, 11	July 31
Mich.	32,261	30,000	already on	already on	already on	already on	July 19	July 19
Minn.	105,352	#2,000	0	0	0	0	May 1	Aug. 21
Miss.	be organized	1,000	already on	already on	already on	0	Jan. 6	Sep. 7
Mo.	10,000	10,000	already on	0	already on	finished	July 30	July 30
Mont.	5,000	#5,000	already on	0	*200	0	Mar. 15	Aug. 15
Nebr.	4,880	2,500	already on	0	0	0	Aug. 1	Sep. 1
Nev.	7,013	7,013	already on	0	already on	already on	April 13	July 6
N. Hamp.	13,698	#3,000	*12,500	0	0	0	Aug. 8	Aug. 8
N.J.	no procedure	#800	0	0	0	0	– – –	July 30
N. M.	3,009	18,053	already on	700	0	0	Apr. 2	June 27
N.Y.	no procedure	#15,000	can’t start	already on	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 21
No. Car.	85,379	85,379	already on	0	3,000	0	May 16	June 14
No. Dak.	7,000	#4,000	0	0	0	0	Apr. 13	Sep. 7
Ohio	*no law exists	5,000	*already on	*unclear	*unclear	*unclear	unsettled	Aug. 8
Okla.	51,739	43,890	*12,000	0	0	0	March 1	July 15
Oregon	21,804	18,279	already on	8,950	already on	0	Aug. 28	Aug. 28
Penn.	no procedure	(es) #25,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 1
R.I.	17,115	#1,000	0	0	0	0	June 1	Sep. 7
So. Car.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	0	May 6	July 15
So. Dak.	7,928	3,171	*2,800	0	0	0	Mar. 27	Aug. 7
Tenn.	40,042	275	0	0	0	0	April 5	Aug. 16
Texas	49,729	80,778	already on	already on	can’t start	can’t start	May 20	May 14
Utah	2,000	#1,000	already on	0	already on	*finished	Feb. 15	Aug. 15
Vermont	be organized	#1,000	already on	0	0	0	Jan. 1	Jun 14
Virginia	no procedure	#10,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 24
Wash.	no procedure	#1,000	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	can’t start	– – –	Aug. 28
West Va.	no procedure	#7,135	0	already on	0	0	– – –	Aug. 1
Wisc.	10,000	#2,000	can’t start	can’t start	already on	can’t start	June 1	Sep. 7
Wyo.	3,740	3,740	already on	0	*3,300	0	June 1	Aug. 28
TOTAL STATES ON			29*	15	11	6*	“	`

#partisan label permitted (other than "independent").
"AMER ELE" = Americans Elect Party.
*change since July 1 issue.

Many polls ask voters if they are Democrats, Republicans, or independents. On August 26, Roper Polls released a poll that asks voters if they are any of these categories, or "None of these". The results: Independent 30%, Democrats 29%, Republicans 21%, "none of these" 20%. The poll was conducted August 18-22 and had 1,000 respondents. The sponsor of the poll was the Associated Press.

On September 13, New York held special elections to fill one vacant seat in the U.S. House, and six vacant Assembly seats. The official returns still aren’t known. However, unofficial returns show that both the Green Party, and the Working Families Party, set new records for New York legislative races.

The Green Party polled 8% in the 144^th district, the highest it has ever done in a
New York legislative race with both major parties also in the race. The Democrat won with 71%, and the Republican received 21%.

The Working Families Party polled 32% in the 54^th district, the best it has ever done for a New York legislative race. The district is in Brooklyn. The winner, who was the nominee of the Democratic, Republican, and Conservative Parties, received 44%, and an independent received 23%. The previous best showing for the WFP in a New York legislative race had been 22.62%, in 2006.

On September 13, Nevada held a special election for U.S. House, 2^nd district. The results: Republican Mark Amodei, 57.92%; Democrat Kate Marshall 36.07%; independent candidate Helmuth Lehmann 4.14%; Independent American Party nominee Tim Fasano 1.87%.

On September 9, the Mississippi Electoral Board met and determined that the Reform Party faction associated with Shawn O’Hara is the legitimate faction of the party. It ruled against the faction that is more closely associated with the national officers of the Reform Party.

As a result, the O’Hara faction nominees will be on the November 8, 2011 ballot for state office. They include nominees for Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor, Treasurer, Agriculture Commissioner, and three legislative seats.

Louisiana elects all its executive and legislative officers for four-year terms on October 22. In the 38 State Senate races, only one person filed in 20 races. In the 100 State House races, only one person filed in 41 races.

Louisiana has three qualified parties, other than the Democrats and Republicans. Libertarians have a candidate for Governor, and the Reform Party has a candidate for Agriculture Commissioner. The Green Party has no nominees for state office.

Virginia elects all members of its state legislature on November 8, 2011. Out of the 100 State House races, only 29 have both a Democrat and a Republican running. In most districts, only one person is on the ballot.

There are five independent candidates for the State House, two Independent Green Party nominees, and two Libertarians. There is also an Independent Green nominee for one of the State Senate seats.

Representative Lacey Putney is running for re-election. He is 83, and has been elected as an independent to the House every two years starting in 1971.

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