Ballot Access News

The Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune has this article about Wyoming’s restrictive ballot access laws. The article focuses on the plight of the Country Party, which went off the ballot even though it polled 2.5% for U.S. Senate. The vote test for a party to remain ballot-qualified is 2%, but in presidential years, the only office that counts is the U.S. House race, and the Country Party did not poll as much as 2% for that office.

The article is generally accurate and sympathetic. However, it is in error when it says Montana requires a petition of 5% of the last vote cast. Instead, Montana requires 5,000 signatures for a newly-qualifying party, which is fewer signatures that Wyoming requires for 2014; furthermore Montana has almost twice Wyoming’s population. Also the article’s mention of Louisiana is misleading. Louisiana does not keep congressional or presidential candidates off the November ballot. Louisiana has no primaries and holds its general elections in November (for federal office).

The Green Party of Georgia, and the Constitution Party of Georgia, challenged Georgia’s ballot access procedures for presidential candidates on May 25, 2012. U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Story dismissed the case on July 17, without even waiting for the state to answer the Complaint. He said the case couldn’t possibly win because the U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1971 in Jenness v Fortson foreclosed the issue.

Jenness v Fortson did not concern presidential ballot access, so the parties asked for reconsideration on July 24. It has now been more than four months and Judge Story has not acted on the request for reconsideration. It is rare for requests for reconsideration to be pending for more than a month.

The case is Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, northern district, 1:12-cv-1822.

On November 26, the Michigan Secretary of State released official election results, including write-in totals for President. Gary Johnson was credited with 7,774 write-ins, the highest number of write-ins ever recorded in Michigan for a presidential candidate in November. The previous record had been Ralph Nader in 1996, who was credited with 2,322 in Michigan.

Michigan did not permit write-ins for president in the general election until 1964, when the Prohibition Party won a lawsuit in the State Supreme Court on that subject.

The other write-ins presidential candidates in Michigan received this number of write-ins: Stewart Alexander, Socialist, 89; Jerry White, Socialist Equality, 68; Tom Hoefling, American’s Independent Party, 42. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this information.