Ballot Access News

On March 14, Coconino County settled a lawsuit that had been filed in October 2010, by a voter who wasn’t permitted to vote at the polls because she was wearing a T-shirt that included a depiction of the American flag, “We the People” script from the Constitution, and the phrase “Flagstaff Tea Party – Reclaiming our Constitution Now.”

Polling place officials felt the T-shirt was illegal “electioneering”, but of course there was no ballot-listed Tea Party on the ballot in Arizona. The voter won injunctive relief last year and now Coconino County has agreed to interpret the electioneering law to include only clothing that refers to a candidate or a party that is actually listed on the ballot. The case had been Wickberg v Owens, cv10-8177-PHX, in U.S. District Court. The county also had to pay $46,000 in attorneys’ fees. See this story.

On March 14, the Arizona House passed HB 2304 by a vote of 51-5. Among many other election law changes, it says that when a political party gets on the ballot, it is then on the ballot for the next two elections, instead of just one election. If this bill is signed into law, the Arizona Green Party will be on the ballot in 2012.

The bill also legalizes out-of-state circulators for all types of petition. The existing law says out-of-state circulators may work on an independent presidential candidate’s petition, but no other kind of petition.

Unfortunately, the House amended the bill so that it no longer makes it easier for a member of a newly-qualifying party to get on his or her own party’s primary ballot. The existing law for that requires a petition signed by members of that party, equal to one-tenth of 1% of the vote for that same office in the last general election. The number of signatures for candidates to get on a primary of an old established party is more lenient, one-half of 1% of that party’s membership. However, the existing law also makes it very easy for a candidate to win a new party’s primary on write-in votes at that party’s primary.

The Arkansas Libertarian Party will launch a petition drive in April to qualify for the 2012 ballot as a full-fledged party. The party has virtually met its goal of raising $30,000 to pay for the petition drive, which needs 10,000 valid signatures, to be collected in any three months of the party’s own choosing.

Arkansas is the only state in which the Libertarian Party has never placed any nominees on the ballot for partisan office other than President. Arkansas has far easier procedures for parties to get on the ballot for President only, and the party has always used the president-only procedures in the past.

The Green Party of Arkansas is currently in court against Arkansas, over the law on how a party retains its place on the ballot. The law requires all parties to poll 3% for the office at the top of the ballot (President in presidential years, Governor in gubernatorial years). The case is in the 8th circuit.