RHODE ISLAND REPEALS STRAIGHT-TICKET DEVICE
BILL PASSES SIX MINUTES BEFORE ADJOURNMENT

At 4:00 a.m. Saturday morning, June 21, the Rhode Island legislature passed HB 8072, to repeal the straight-ticket device. Six minutes later, it adjourned for the year.

A straight-ticket device lets voters cast a vote for all the nominees of one party, with a single mark on the ballot. Voters who use the straight-ticket device don’t even need to look at any part of the ballot except the very top, because the very top contains the straight-ticket device.

Straight-ticket devices are very harmful to independent candidates, because there is never a device for an independent candidate. The devices also injure minor party candidates. A candidate may have a great deal of appeal, if only he or she can get the voter to notice the name on the ballot, but the device causes many voters to avoid looking at the ballot.

Election officials dislike the straight-ticket device because it causes some voters to fail to vote on ballot measures and non-partisan races.

Senator David E. Bates, one of the prime sponsors of the bill, had been working to repeal the device ever since he was elected to the Senate in 1992. Ken Block, the founder of the Rhode Island Moderate Party, ran for Governor in 2010, and he realized how harmful the device had been to his candidacy and to the legislative nominees of his party. He organized virtually all of Rhode Island’s good-government groups into a coalition to work for repeal of the device.

Nevertheless, during 2013, the effort seemed thwarted, because the Speaker of the House, Gordon D. Fox, supported the device and refused to allow the repeal bills to advance. This was so, even though at the time a majority of the legislators had signed a pledge to vote to repeal the device.

However, on March 22, 2014, Speaker Fox resigned, and that opened the door for repeal. The bill passed the House on May 1. When it went to the Senate, it was amended to take effect in 2015 instead of this year. On June 21, the House passed the Senate’s version.

Rhode Island is the ninth state to repeal the device in the last fifty years. The other states that have repealed it, and the years of repeal, are:

States that still have it are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.

There is some reason to believe that Republicans will have a majority in both houses of the West Virginia legislature after the 2014 election, for the first time since 1928-1930. If so, chances are good that the device will be repealed in that state in 2015.

On June 17, the California Senate Elections Committee passed AB 2351, whicih eases the definition of "political party." The bill passed unanimously, and had passed in the Assembly unanimously during May, so it is likely to become law. It lowers the registration test from 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, to .33% of the number of registered voters.

On May 29, the American Civil Liberties Union filed paperwork with the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Georgia, so that ACLU staff attorneys will now represent the Green Party and the Constitution Party in the pending ballot access case, Green Party of Georgia v Kemp. The case challenges the Georgia petition procedures for presidential ballot access.

Those procedures are so severe, no one has complied with them since 2000. They require 50,000 signatures, and each petition sheet must be notarized, which is very expensive, unless the group has volunteer notaries. However, anyone who notarizes any petition sheets cannot circulate as much as one sheet (even if someone else notarizes that sheet).

On June 9, the Libertarian and Green Parties filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s law that does not let out-of-state residents circulate petitions. Green Party of Pa v Aichele, e.d., 2:14cv-3299. The case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas O’Neill, a Reagan appointee.

The case challenges other laws as well: (1) the signer must fill in the year, in the "Date" column; (2) the notarization requirement; (3) the restriction that does not let residents of two different counties sign the same sheet; (4) the state’s insistence on using 2012 petition blanks for 2014. That is a problem because the 2012 petition has 20 blank lines at the top for a list of presidential elector candidates, which is confusing because the petition has nothing to do with a presidential election.

On June 16, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Susan B. Anthony List v Driehaus, 13-193. The sole issue was whether the lower courts should have adjudicated the lawsuit that had been filed against Ohio’s law that criminalizes false speech about candidates or ballot measures. The lower courts had refused to decide whether the Ohio law violates the First Amendment, because the plaintiffs hadn’t actually been charged with a crime. But the Supreme Court said plaintiffs who are threatened with harm do have a right to file a lawsuit and to get a decision on the merits.

The decision will help with these pending ballot access lawsuits: (1) Constitution Party v Aichele, which attacks the Pennsylvania practice of charging tens of thousands in court costs if a petitioning group submits a petition that lacks sufficient valid signatures; (2) Raymond v Fenumiai, which attacks Alaska’s law banning out-of-state circulators; (3) Stein v Bennett, which attack’s Alabama’s March petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties in presidential years. All three cases lost in U.S. District Court and are pending in Appeals Courts. The first two had lost on standing, and arguably the Stein case did also.

On June 4, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ordered the Board of Elections to put the office of Attorney General on the ballot this year. Zukerberg v D.C. Board of Elections. The order came only six days after the oral argument. The vote was 3-0.

The voters had passed a ballot measure in 2010, saying Attorney General should be an elective partisan office starting in 2014. But the City Council last year had set the first election for that office in 2018. The lower court had upheld the decision not to hold the election in 2014.

Although the 2010 ballot measure had said the first election would be in 2014, the actual text of the proposed law (which was not printed on the ballot) had not said when the first election would be held.

The D.C. primary was already held on April 1, so it is not clear how the November election will be run. Two Democrats have announced for the office and are circulating independent candidate petitions. Probably, even though this is a partisan office, all the candidates will be on the November ballot as independents.

On June 16, the Ninth Circuit struck down a California law that requires each initiative petition sheet to list the proponents of the initiative. Chula Vista Citizens for Jobs v Norris, 12-55726. The decision says that there is no government interest in the law, because the names of the proponents are on file in the Elections office, and furthermore before an initiative starts to circulate, proponents must publish a legal notice in a newspaper and identify themselves in that notice. That part of the decision is 2-1. Judges Diarmuid O’Scannlain and Carlos Bea were in the majority; Judge Susan Graber dissented.

The plaintiffs had filed the lawsuit because they did not wish to have their names on each petition sheets. They had also sued to overturn another law that says only individuals can be initiative proponents. The plaintiffs wanted their group to be the official proponent, but they lost on that issue.

The reasoning of the decision (the part striking down disclosure) seems to conflict with the rationale for the Ohio law that requires every petition sheet to list the employer of the circulator. So far, that law has prevented the Ohio Libertarian Party from placing its gubernatorial candidate on the 2014 ballot. Although the Ohio case is still pending, the party has not been able to win injunctive relief yet.

Alabama: on June 2, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Alabama Legislative Black Caucus v State, 13-895, over whether the 2011 legislative redistricting discriminated against black voters by packing as many of them into a limited number of districts as possible. The lower court had upheld the state. If the U.S. Supreme Court reverses, there will probably be special legislative elections in 2015 or 2016, because normally Alabama only elects state legislators in midterm years.

Kansas: the Tenth Circuit will hear Kobach v U.S. Election Assistance Commission on August 25. This is the case in which Kansas and Arizona are trying to force the U.S. government to amend the federal voter registration form to require documentary proof of citizenship to be attached. The U.S. District Court had ruled I favor of the two states.

New Mexico: on June 3, David Crum, an independent voter, filed a lawsuit in lower state court, demanding to be allowed to vote in the major party primary of his choice. New Mexico has closed primaries. Crum depends on the State Constitution, which says, "Every person who is a qualified elector pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States and a citizen thereof shall be qualified to vote in all elections in New Mexico, subject to residency and registration requirements." Crum v Duran, d202cv-2014-3730.

federal law: on May 21, the Indiana Libertarian Party, the Libertarian National Congressional Committee, and an individual donor who wishes to support the party filed a lawsuit to overturn the part of the McCain-Feingold law that restricts giving to political parties. Rufer v Federal Election Commission, 1:14cv-837, in D.C. The lawsuit seeks to overturn contribution limits to political parties, but only in cases in which the money will be spent by the party, independently of the candidate. The case was assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee.

This page has a chart showing the average number of minor party and independent candidates for U.S. Senator 1990-2012, and a chart showing the same information for gubernatorial candidates 1990-2013.

The chart only includes regular elections, not special elections. Each state is listed in order, with the states with the most candidates at the top,

The purpose of these charts is to show which states have the most permissive ballot access laws for statewide office other than President. Most states have separate ballot access procedures for President, so the best way to compare ballot access laws for statewide office other than President is to use U.S. Senate and gubernatorial elections.

The June 1 Ballot Access News had a similar chart, for Presidential ballot access.

The alternate method of comparing states, involving comparing the number of signatures needed to get on the ballot, is less realistic, because other restrictions, such as early deadlines, severe weather, notarization requirements, restrictions on who can circulate and on where petitioning can be carried out, also influence the ability of groups and candidates to get on the ballot.

During the period 1990 through 2013, the average state had 2.01 minor party and independent candidates on the general election ballot for Governor, and 1.85 for U.S. Senate.

The most crowded gubernatorial election was New Jersey’s 1993 election, which had 19 candidates (counting both major party nominees). The most crowded U.S. Senate election was a tie between New Jersey’s 2012 election and its 2000 election; both had eleven candidates.

The longest "dry spell" for either office was in New Mexico, where there were no minor party or independent candidates for Senate in the fourteen years between 1997 and 2011.

New Jersey	6.38
Tennessee	4.88
Vermont	4.33
New York	4.00
California	3.50
Louisiana	3.50
Minnesota	3.50
Colorado	3.25
Michigan	3.25
Nevada	3.13
Utah	2.50
Florida	2.38
Illinois	2.38
Iowa	2.38
Wisconsin	2.38
Alaska	2.25
Connecticut	2.13
Oregon	2.13
Missouri	2.00
South Carolina	1.88
Arizona	1.75
Kansas	1.75
Delaware	1.63
Hawaii	1.63
Texas	1.63
New Hampshire	1.50
Oklahoma	1.50
Pennsylvania	1.38
Indiana	1.25
Massachusetts	1.25
Virginia	1.25
Idaho	1.00
Maine	1.00
Mississippi	1.00
Montana	1.00
North Carolina	1.00
Ohio	1.00
Georgia	.88
Maryland	.88
Nebraska	.75
Washington	.75
Kentucky	.63
North Dakota	.63
South Dakota	.63
Wyoming	.63
Alabama	.50
Arkansas	.50
Rhode Island	.38
West Virginia	.38
New Mexico	.25
MEDIAN	1.58

GOVERNOR 1990-2013

New Jersey	9.33
Tennessee	7.17
New York	5.33
Louisiana	4.50
Vermont	4.42
Minnesota	4.33
California	3.83
Alaska	3.17
Iowa	2.83
Colorado	2.67
Nevada	2.67
Wisconsin	2.67
Oregon	2.50
Maine	2.33
Utah	2.33
Hawaii	2.17
Connecticut	1.83
Massachusetts	1.83
Missouri	1.83
Florida	1.67
Texas	1.67
Illinois	1.50
Kansas	1.50
Michigan	1.50
Arizona	1.33
Idaho	1.33
North Carolina	1.33
Ohio	1.33
Rhode Island	1.33
West Virginia	1.33
Delaware	1.17
South Dakota	1.17
Indiana	1.00
Maryland	1.00
Mississippi	1.00
New Hampshire	1.00
North Dakota	1.00
Pennsylvania	1.00
Georgia	.83
Montana	.83
South Carolina	.83
Virginia	.83
Arkansas	.67
Oklahoma	.67
Wyoming	.67
Nebraska	.50
Kentucky	.33
New Mexico	.33
Washington	.33
Alabama	.17
MEDIAN	1.33

DATE	CANDIDATE	PARTY	OFFICE	RANK	VOTE %
3/25/14	Jeff Hewitt	Libertarian	State Senate 23	4th of 5	6.5%
6/3/14	Luis Rodriguez	Green	Governor	6th of 15	1.5%
6/3/14	Cindy Sheehan	Peace and Freedom	Governor	7th of 15	1.2%
6/3/14	Amos Johnson	Peace and Freedom	Lieutenant Governor	8th of 8	.9%
6/3/14	Jena Goodman	Green	Lieutenant Governor	6th of 8	2.4%
6/3/14	Alan Reynolds	Americans Elect	Lieutenant Governor	7th of 8	1.3%
6/3/14	David Curtis	Green	Secretary of State	8th of 8	3.0%
6/3/14	Laura Wells	Green	Controller	5th of 6	5.7%
6/3/14	Ellen H. Brown	Green	Treasurer	3rd of 3	6.6%
6/3/14	Jonathan Jaech	Libertarian	Attorney General	7th of 7	2.4%
6/3/14	Natalie Hrizi	Peace and Freedom	Insurance Commissioner	3rd of 3	5.4%
6/3/14	Douglas Arthur Tuma	Libertarian	U.S. House 7	5th of 6	1.5%
6/3/14	Barry Hermanson	Green	U.S. House 12	3rd of 8	5.7%
6/3/14	Frank Lara	Peace and Freedom	U.S. House 12	5th of 8	1.9%
6/3/14	Lawrence Allen	Peace and Freedom	U.S. House 13	4th of 4	2.3%
6/3/14	David Koster Bruce	Libertarian	U.S. House 25	6th of 8	1.9%
6/3/14	Michael W. Powelson	Green	U.S. House 30	5th of 5	3.3%
6/3/14	Mark Matthew Herd	Libertarian	U.S. House 33	11th of 18	.8%
6/3/14	Michael Ian Sachs	Green	U.S. House 33	12th of 18	.7%
6/3/14	Howard Johnson	Peace and Freedom	U.S. House 34	3rd of 3	11.6%
6/3/14	Michael Benoit	Libertarian	U.S. House 50	3rd of 3	5.2%
6/3/14	John P. "Jack" Lindblad	Green	State Senate 18	3rd of 3	7.8%
6/3/14	Pamaela Elizondo	Green	Assembly 2	4th of 4	8.7%
6/3/14	Janice Marlae Bonser	Libertarian	Assembly 8	3rd of 3	7.1%
6/3/14	Eugene E. Ruyle	Peace and Freedom	Assembly 15	7th of 8	3.5%
6/3/14	Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik	Socialist	Assembly 62	7th of 8	2.5%

The June 1, 2013 BAN listed all the minor party candidates for federal and state office who had run in top-two primaries, when there were at least two major party candidates running. That chart showed that there had been 85 instances of such minor party candidacies, and never had a minor party candidate placed first or second.

The chart above updates last year’s chart. When this chart is combined with the chart from last year, there have now been 111 instances in which a minor party member ran for federal or state office, with at least two major party opponents. In all 111 instances, the minor party candidate was barred from the general election campaign because he or she did not place first or second in the primary.

This does not mean that minor party candidates ever lack enough appeal to be elected. When party labels are omitted from the ballot, minor party members in California do win important public office. Registered Greens have been elected to city councils, or to the mayor’s position, in these 26 California cities: Aliso Viejo, Apple Valley, Arcata, Berkeley, Buellton, Davis, Fairfax, Fort Bragg, Marina, Menlo Park, Modesto, Morage, Morro Bay, Nevada City, Oakdale, Ojai, Point Arena, Richmond, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, Santa Monica, Sebastopol, Sonoma, Truckee, Willits, and Yucapia. Greens have also won County Supervisor seats in Mendocino and San Francisco Counties. Libertarians have been elected to city councils in these 11 cities: Arcata, Bellflower, Clovis, Moreno Valley, Mountain View, Palm Desert, Ross, San Gabriel, Saratoga, Simi Valley, and Villa Park. Libertarians have won County Supervisor seats in Calaveras and Placer Counties, and a Libertarian was elected Mendocino County District Attorney. Peace & Freedom members were elected to the Cotati city council. In addition, hundreds of members of these parties have been elected to lesser non-partisan office.

When party labels are on the ballot, it takes an exceptional effort for a minor party member to win, because the default position of most voters is to vote for a Democrat or a Republican. An exception effort takes time, but a top-two system truncates that time at the date of the primary.

STATE	REQUIREMENTS		SIGNATURES OR REGIS. OBTAINED				DEADLINES
	FULL PARTY	CAND	LIB’T	GREEN	CONSTI	Wk Fam	Party	Indp.
Ala.	44,829	44,829	*too late	*too late	*too late	too late	June 3	June 3
Alaska	(reg) 8,925	#2,975	already on	(reg)*1,769	*2,300	0	June 1	Aug. 19
Ariz.	23,041	*#34,028	already on	in court	*too late	too late	Feb. 28	May 28
Ark.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	*too late	too late	Jan 2	in court
Calif.	(reg) 103,004	65 + fee	already on	already on	too late	too late	Jan. 2	March 7
Colo.	(reg) 1,000	#1,000	already on	already on	already on	0	Jan. 8	July 10
Conn.	no procedure	#7,500	0	already on	0	already on	– – –	Aug. 6
Del.	(reg) 637	6,364	already on	already on	*(reg) 380	*(reg) 535	Aug. 19	July 15
D.C.	no procedure	(est.) #3,900	already on	already on	0	0	– – –	Aug. 6
Florida	0	pay fee	already on	already on	already on	too late	May 2	May 2
Georgia	50,334	#50,334	already on	0	0	0	July 8	July 8
Hawaii	706	25	already on	already on	*too late	too late	Feb. 20	June 3
Idaho	13,102	1,000	already on	0	already on	0	Aug. 30	March 14
Illinois	no procedure	#25,000	*finished	*finished	*finished	*too late	– – –	June 23
Indiana	no procedure	#34,195	already on	*too late	*too late	*too late	– – –	June 30
Iowa	no procedure	#1,500	*750	0	0	0	– – –	Aug. 15
Kansas	16,776	5,000	already on	0	0	0	June 2	Aug. 4
Ky.	no procedure	#5,000	*1,100	0	0	0	– – –	Aug. 12
La.	(reg) 1,000	pay fee	already on	already on	(reg) 120	0	May 15	Aug. 22
Maine	(reg) 5,000	#4,000	*too late	already on	*too late	*too late	Dec 12, 13	May 25
Md.	10,000	* 37,293	already on	already on	0	0	Aug. 4	Aug. 4
Mass.	(reg) 42,391	#10,000	0	*3,500	*100	0	Nov. 5, 13	July 29
Mich.	32,261	30,000	already on	already on	already on	0	July 17	July 17
Minn.	146,297	#2,000	*already on	*already on	*too late	*too late	May 1	June 3
Miss.	be organized	1,000	already on	already on	already on	*too late	March 3	March 3
Mo.	10,000	10,000	already on	0	already on	0	July 28	July 28
Mont.	5,000	#11,823	already on	*too late	*too late	*too late	March 13	May 27
Nebr.	4,880	4,000	already on	0	0	0	Aug. 1	*Sep 2
Nev.	(reg. or pet) 9,738	250	already on	in court	already on	0	April 11	*Feb. 6
N. Hamp.	20,779	#3,000	*200	0	0	0	Aug. 6	Aug. 6
N.J.	no procedure	#800	*already on	0	0	0	– – –	June 3
N. M.	3,009	18,053	already on	0	*already on	0	June 24	June 24
N.Y.	no procedure	#15,000	*100	already on	*0	already on	– – –	Aug. 5
No. Car.	89,366	89,366	already on	*too late	*too late	*too late	*May 17	June 12
No. Dak.	7,000	1,000	already on	0	0	0	Apr. 11	Sep. 2
Ohio	27,905	5,000	already on	already on	already on	0	July 2	May 5
Okla.	66,744	pay fee	(already)	too late	too late	too late	March 3	April 11
Oregon	17,700	18,279	already on	already on	already on	already on	Aug. 26	Aug. 26
Penn.	no procedure	#16,639	*3,000	*4,000	0	0	– – –	Aug. 1
R.I.	17,115	#1,000	*25	0	0	0	June 2	July 11
So. Car.	10,000	10,000	already on	already on	already on	already on	May 4	July 15
So. Dak.	7,928	3,171	already on	0	already on	0	Mar. 25	April 29
Tenn.	40,042	25	(already)	already on	already on	0	Aug. 6	April 3
Texas	49,729	49,729	already on	already on	*too late	*too late	*May 26	June 26
Utah	2,000	#1,000	already on	too late	already on	too late	March 1	March 20
Vermont	be organized	#500	already on	*too late	*too late	already on	*too late	June 12
Virginia	no procedure	#10,000	*finished	0	0	0	– – –	June 10
Wash.	no procedure	#pay fee	*0	*0	*0	*0	– – –	May 16
West Va.	no procedure	#6,516	already on	already on	*5,000	0	– – –	Aug. 1
Wisc.	10,000	#2,000	*already on	*already on	already on	0	May 1	June 2
Wyo.	4,833	4,833	already on	0	already on	0	June 1	Aug. 25
TOTAL STATES ON			38*	22*	16*	5*	“	`

# label permitted (other than "independent").
"WK FAM = "Working Families".
*entry changed since May issue.
"Reg" = registrations.
"(already)" = party has placed a statewide nominee on the ballot, but party label is not allowed on ballot.

Nevada held primaries on June 10. In the Democratic primary, "None of these candidates" outpolled all gubernatorial candidates. Although "None" has won a few other statewide primaries in the past, it has never before won one for Governor. One reason it won is that there were 8 candidates running for Governor on the Democratic ballot. The vote was: None 21,725; Robert Goodman 17,961; Stephen Frye 8,231; John Rutledge 6,039; Charles Chang 5,619; Chris Hyepock 4,743; Allen Rheinhart 3,605; Abdul Shabazz 2,731; Frederick Conquest 1,867.

Andy Dawkins is the Green Party nominee for Minnesota Attorney General this year. He is well-known because he was a Democratic member of the legislature from St. Paul from 1986 until 2002. Also he is married to Ellen Anderson, who was a Democratic State Senator 1992-2011.

North Dakota requires all qualified parties to nominate by primary, and has an open primary. Any voter is free to choose any party’s primary ballot, and the primary is in June. The state does not tally how many voters choose each party’s primary ballot, but it is possible to know this approximately, from the primary election returns. In 2010, the highest vote-getting Libertarian in the primary got 548 votes, but in 2014, the highest Libertarian got 1,555. While participation in the Libertarian primary tripled, participation in the Republican primary declined during the same four years, from 65,205 to 50,446. Democratic participation increased slightly, from 28,404 to 30,154.

The Libertarian Party needs to poll 5% for Secretary of State in November 2014 in order to remain on the ballot.

Tom Ervin, independent candidate for Governor of South Carolina, has been certified for the November ballot. He needed 10,000 valid signatures. He is the first independent candidate for Governor of South Carolina to qualify in history. South Carolina has only had government-printed ballots since 1950.

Ballotpedia is a web page that was created in 2006, to post neutral information about ballot measures. Since then it has expanded, and now has comprehensive information about ballot access laws of each state. The web page has content about many other topics as well.

Dan Hamburg was re-elected to the Mendocino County, California, Board of Supervisors on June 3, 2014. This is a non-partisan election, but he is a registered Green and was the Green Party’s nominee for Governor in 1998. He is also a former Democratic congressman.

On May 31, the Libertarian Party moved into a national office that it recently purchased, at 1444 Duke St., Alexandria Va 22314. It is believed that the Libertarian Party is the only nationally-organized political party, other than the two major parties, that owns its own headquarters. The last other parties that owned their own headquarters were the Socialist Workers Party and the Communist Party; those offices were in New York city.

The Libertarian Party also seems to be the only nationally-organized party that has set the date of its 2016 presidential convention. It will be in Orlando, Florida, May 26-30.

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