December 2021 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Ballot Access News
December 2021 – Volume 37, Number 7

This issue was printed on white paper.


Table of Contents

  1. RESTRICTIVE BALLOT ACCESS LAWS STRUCK DOWN IN MAINE AND MONTANA
  2. ELEVENTH CIRCUIT UPHOLDS ALABAMA ON ACCESS TO LIST OF REGISTERED VOTERS
  3. HIGH COURT WON’T HEAR OHIO LIBERTARIAN CASE
  4. NEBRASKA SHRINKS TIME FOR NEW PARTY PETITIONS
  5. ALASKA TOP-FOUR OPPONENTS FILE BRIEFS IN STATE HIGH COURT
  6. RANKED CHOICE WINS
  7. INFRASTRUCTURE BILL AND PRIMARY SYSTEMS
  8. GEORGIA
  9. MICHIGAN NATIONAL POPULAR PLAN
  10. MOST CROWDED GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT FOR U.S. SENATE
  11. VOTER REGISTRATION TOTALS
  12. MINOR PARTIES DO POORLY IN 2021 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS
  13. 2022 PETITIONING
  14. FIVE MINOR PARTIES WON AN ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 2, 2021
  15. NEW YORK CITYWIDE OFFICE RETURNS
  16. WEST VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT PARTY WON’T SUE FOR RECOGNITION
  17. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

RESTRICTIVE BALLOT ACCESS LAWS STRUCK DOWN IN MAINE AND MONTANA

During November, ballot access restrictions that hamper minor parties were struck down in Maine and Montana.

Maine

On November 17, U.S. District Court Judge Lance On November 17, U.S. District Court Judge Lance E. Walker, a Trump appointee, struck down two Maine ballot access laws that relate to new and minor parties. Baines v Bellows, 1:19cv-509. This is a Libertarian Party case filed in 2019, after the party lost its qualified status in Maine.

The 41-page decision strikes down the rules for a candidate to get on the primary ballot of a small qualified party. Maine is one of only three states that requires petitions to place candidates on a primary ballot, that has registration by party, and does not take into account the size of the party when it determines how many signatures are needed. Thus anyone seeking a place on a Maine primary ballot for statewide office needs 2,000 signatures of party members, and only party members may sign. It is obviously far easier for a Democrat or a Republican to find 2,000 party members to sign a primary petition, than a party that only has a few thousand registered members.

The other two states with this characteristic are Arizona and Massachusetts, but at least those two states let independent voters sign primary petitions. Maine does not. As a result, no qualified party in Maine, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, has been able to run any candidates for either house of Congress in the last 100 years. Qualified third parties in Maine in the last 30 years have been the Green, Libertarian, Reform, and Americans Elect Parties.

The other law that was struck down is termed the "purge". When a party goes off the ballot, all its registrants are automatically converted to independent status, without even telling them. Because parties in Maine mostly obtain and retain party status based on how many registered voters they have, the law requiring all of a party’s members to be erased is extremely hurtful, and the judge felt strongly about that. Page 40 says, "The act of purging voter enrollment is a punishment in search of a wrong that would make Kafka blush." He also said there is no real burden on election officials by allowing parties to keep their registrants, on page 38.

The decision upholds the January (of election years) deadline for a group to become a qualified party via a registration drive. There is considerable precedent around the nation that such early deadlines to qualify new parties are unconstitutional, but the decision does not mention them, and this part of the decision is quite short. It is likely that a newly-formed party would be a better plaintiff to attack the deadline than the Libertarian Party, because the Libertarian Party has been in continous existence for 50 years, whereas a party formed in an election year could not have been expected to have qualified before it was in existence.

Further proceedings will be held in this case to determine what the remedy should be.

Montana

On November 8, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion in MontanaGreen Party v Jacobsen, 20-35340. It struck down the unequal distribution requirement that has existed for Montana petitions for new party recognition ever since 1981. The unequal distribution requirement was responsible for the Green Party’s petition failure in both 2018 and 2020. It requires signatures from one-third of the State House districts. The fatal flaw is that it requires almost three times as many signatures from some districts as from others, even though all districts are approximately equal in population.

The decision says, "The State has provided no reason, much less a compelling reason, for requiring far more signatures in some equal-population districts than in others."

The decision upholds the March petition deadline for new party petitions that had existed in 2018 and 2020, but it would have been surprising if the decision had struck down that deadline, because the Montana Green Party complied with the March deadline in both 2018 and 2020. Thus there was no evidence that the early deadline injured the party.

Another case from any state in the Ninth Circuit against such a similar deadline might win someday, if the plaintiff-party fails to meet the deadline and presents evidence about how the deadline injured it.

The decision is by Judge William Fletcher, a Clinton appointee; it is also signed by Judge Michelle Friedland, an Obama appointee; and Judge Frederic Block, a Clinton appointee. The lower court had upheld the distribution requirement.

The decision erroneously seems to say that the new deadline of February 4, created this year, is also constitutional. It says that an earlier deadline was upheld in 2016 in Arizona Green Party v Reagan, 838 F.3d 983, but actually in that case the upheld deadline was February 27, 2014, whereas the 2022 Montana deadline (under the new law passed this year) will be February 4. Also the only reason the Ninth Circuit upheld the Arizona deadline was that the Green Party did not submit any evidence that the early deadline injured it. Furthermore the weather is very different in winter in Montana compared to Arizona. The decision also seems to have a typographical error concerning the deadline law. On page sixteen it correctly says the deadline is 123 days before the primary, but on page sixteen it says the Montana deadline is 128 days before the primary. The Montana primary is the first Tuesday after the first Wednesday in June. The Green Party has asked the court to fix the error.

Other states with unequal distribution requirements for candidate or party petitions are Arizona and Iowa. Neither state’s distribution requirement has ever been challenged in court; they are both fairly new.


ELEVENTH CIRCUIT UPHOLDS ALABAMA ON ACCESS TO LIST OF REGISTERED VOTERS

On November 19, the Eleventh Circuit issued an opinion in Libertarian Party of Alabama v Merrill, 20-13356. It upholds Alabama’s discriminatory policy for access to the list of registered voters. The 28-page opinion will not be published. The decision is by Judge Robert Luck, a Trump appointee. It is also signed by Judge Jill Pryor, an Obama appointee; and Judge Andrew Brasher, a Trump appointee.

Alabama gives a free list of the registered voters to the qualified parties, and to state legislators, and to the state administrative office of courts, and to election officials of other states. But it charges unqualified parties $35,913 for the list.

In 1970 a 3-judge U.S. District Court in New York ruled that if the state gives a list of the registered voters free to qualified parties, it must also give it to parties that are petitioning to get on the ballot. The U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed this decision, 400 U.S. 806. The new Eleventh Circuit decision says this precedent doesn’t control this case, because in New York the list was given to parties that, while not qualified, "had succeeded in gaining a position on the ballot." In the New York case, the plaintiffs Socialist Workers Party, and Socialist Labor Party, sued in early 1970 to help them with their 1970 petition. It is true that they had appeared on the New York ballot in 1968 and previous years, but that does not differentiate that case from the Alabama case. The Libertarian Party has also gained a position on the Alabama in the past, which the decision admits.

The decision says if the state had to give the Libertarian Party the list, an employee of the Secretary of State "would have to export the list from a program called PowerProfile; import the data into Microsoft Access; export the data from Access to a text file; and then email the list to the party requesting it. This process takes about fifty minutes and, because of the demands of processing this very large file, prevents the employee’s computer from doing other tasks."

The decision does not mention any of the other five precedents from other courts that ruled that if the state gives a free list of the registered voters to the qualified parties, it must give the list free to groups that are petitioning.

The decision admits that "the voter list is an important tool for effectively petitioning for ballot access." The decision does not mention that the Libertarian Party is currently petitioning for 2022 in Alabama. However, that fact is not in the record, because this case was filed before the party decided to launch its statewide 2022 petition.


HIGH COURT WON’T HEAR OHIO LIBERTARIAN CASE

On November 1, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear LibertarianParty of Ohio v Crites, 21-226. This is the case over the composition of the Ohio Election Commission. Ohio law says the members of the Commission must be three members of the two largest parties (as measured by which two parties have the most seats in the legislature), and a member chosen by the other six who is not a member of any party. Thus a minor party member may never serve.

The Court’s action continues a 30-year unbroken refusal by the court to accept any cert petition filed by a minor party or independent candidate, unless the two major parties were also in the case on the same side as the minor party. Yet during that 30-year period the court accepted six cert petitions filed when the minor party or independent candidate had won in the court below, and the state sought Supreme Court review. They include cases on ballot access, fusion, party freedom to decide for itself to let independents vote in its primaries, debates, and exclusion of independent and minor party members from serving as a state court judge.

The last time the Court accepted a minor party petition was Norman v Reed, a 1991 Illinois case won by the Harold Washington Party. That decision struck down the number of signatures for Cook County office.


NEBRASKA SHRINKS TIME FOR NEW PARTY PETITIONS

Earlier this year, the Nebraska legislature passed a bill setting a limit on how long a petition to qualify a new party may circulate. Governor Pete Ricketts signed LB 285 on May 26, 2021. Previously there was no limit on how long the petition could circulate. Under the new law, a petition can only circulate during the two years between elections.


ALASKA TOP-FOUR OPPONENTS FILE BRIEFS IN STATE HIGH COURT

The Alaska Supreme Court will hear Kohlhaas v State on January 18, 2022. this is the case over whether the top-four initiative passed last year violates the State Constitution. On Novembr 15, opponents of the system filed their brief. Also, two former Alaska gubernatorial candidates filed an amicus brief against the system.

The initiative provides that the only people who can run in November are the four candidates who polled the most votes in the primary. There are no party nominees. Ranked choice voting is not used in the primary, but it is used in the general election.

The three main arguments against the top-four system are: (1) the Alaska Constitution has more protection for political party freedom of association than the U.S. Constitution des, and the top-four system, by allowing party labels on the ballot even when the party does not support a candidate using its label, violates the party’s use of its name; (2) the State Constitution says that governors must be elected in plurality elections, and ranked choice voting only elects people who win a majority; (3) the State Constitution says the Lieutenant Governor must be nominated the same way as all other partisan candidates, but the top-four system forces Lieutenant Governor candidates in the primary to run in tandem with particular gubernatorial candidates.

One of the individuals who filed the amicus is Dick Randolph, who was the first person ever elected to a state legislature of any state as a Libertarian.


RANKED CHOICE WINS

On November 2, the voters of three cities voted to use ranked choice voting for their own elections: Broomfield, Co.; Westbrook, Me.; Ann Arbor, Mi.


INFRASTRUCTURE BILL AND PRIMARY SYSTEMS

On November 5, the U.S. House passed the infrastructure bill. Thirteen Republicans voted for the bill, bucking their party’s leadership. They are Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Andrew Gabarino of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David McKinley of West Virginia, Tom Reed of New York, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, and Don Young of Alaska.

These 13 individuals are receiving praise for being willing to vote for a bill that the other major party supports. They are held up as examples of politicians willing to compromise and not let partisanship dictate their behavior.

There are 19 Republicans in the House from states in which there are no party nominees (11 from California, 3 from Washington, and 5 from Louisiana). None of these 19 voted in favor of the infrastructure bill.

The Institute for Political Innovation, headed by Katherine Gehl, promotes initiatives to end the ability of parties to have nominees. The group says that if parties didn’t have nominees, more moderates would get elected. But the group’s thesis is contradicted by the roll-call. If the group were correct, Republicans from California, Louisiana and Washington would have voted for the bill.


GEORGIA

On November 17, the Eleventh Circuit refused to stay the order of a U.S. District Court, cutting the Georgia petition requirement for U.S. House and legislature (for minor party and independent candidates) from 5% to 1%. Cowen v Raffensperger, 21-13199. The Eleventh Circuit is expediting the state’s appeal.


MICHIGAN NATIONAL POPULAR PLAN

Proponents of the National Popular Vote Plan have begun circulating their initiative in Michigan. If it gets on the ballot, the voters would decide whether Michigan should join the plan. The plan is a method to avoid future presidential elections in which the person who places first in the popular vote still loses the election.


MOST CROWDED GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT FOR U.S. SENATE

State
No. Candidates
Year
Requirement that Year

Alabama

7

1980

hold a convention; no petition needed

Alaska

7

2004

2,845 signatures

Arizona

5

1992

10,555 signatures

Arkansas

4

2014

10,000 signatures

California

7

2000

149,692 signatures

Colorado

7

2016

1,000 signatures

Connecticut

6

1938

5,504 signatures

Delaware

5

2002

257 registrations

Florida

10

2010

pay filing fee; no petition needed

Georgia

20

2020

pay filing fee; no petition needed (special election)

Hawaii

5

2016

707 signatures

Idaho

5

2008

1,000 signatures

Illinois

12

1926

1,000 signatures

Indiana

7

1932

500 signatures

Iowa

9

1992

1,000 signatures

Kansas

6

1984

2,500 signatures

Kentucky

5

1996

5,000 signatures

Louisiana

24

2016

pay filing fee

Maine

6

2012

4,000 signatures

Maryland

6

1940

2,000 signatures

Massachusetts

10

1936

1,000 signatures

Michigan

8

1936

hold convention; no petition needed

Minnesota

8

1996

2,000 signatures

Mississippi

5

2000

submit list of party officers; no petition needed

Missouri

6

1952

hold a convention; no petition needed

Montana

5

1924

hold a convention; no petition needed

Nebraska

4

2014

4,000 signatures

Nevada

8

2010

250 signatures

New Hampshire

4

2016

3,000 signatures

New Jersey

11

2012

800 signatures

New Mexico

4

1996

one petition of 2,339 sigs.; another one of 4,678 sigs.

New York

8

2000

15,000 signatures

North Carolina

4

2020

11,778 signatures

North Dakota

5

1944

300 signatures

Ohio

6

1976

5,000 signatures

Oklahoma

6

1936

pay filing fee; no petition needeed

Oregon

7

1996

14,601 signatures

Pennsylvania

8

1950

8,826 signatures

Rhode Island

5

1924

500 signatures

South Carolina

6

2004

10,000 signatures

South Dakota

7

1924

hold convention; no petition needed

Tennessee

12

2014

25 signatures

Texas

71

1961

file declaration of candidacy (special election)

Utah

6

2006

1,000 signatures

Vermont

9

2018

500 signatures

Virginia

7

1934

file declaration of candidacy

Washington

8

1934

hold convention with no minimum attendance required

West Virginia

5

2014

6,365 signatures

Wisconsin

7

1992

2,000 signatures

Wyoming

4

2014

4,833 signatures

This chart shows states that required at least 5,000 signatures never had a crowded US Senate ballot, where "crowded ballot" means more than eight candidates for any particular office.


VOTER REGISTRATION TOTALS

The chart below shows the number of registered voters in each party, in the states that have registration by party.

All totals are from November 2021, escept that Maine and Massachusetts are from November 2020; and California is from August 2021.

~

Dem.

Rep.

Indp, misc

Lib’t.

Green

Consti.

Wk Fam

Reform

other

Alaska

78,913

144,467

341,410

6,899

1,491

685

?

?

20,958

Arizona

1,372,884

1,504,990

1,431,141

36,839

3,988

?

?

?

– –

Arkansas

88,111

119,051

1,538,666

680

96

?

?

?

– –

Calif.

10,265,897

5,298,738

5,344,568

214,698

88,419

189

?

?

844,834

Colorado

1,125,285

998,848

1,691,182

43,181

8,877

12,439

?

?

7,261

Conn.

826,379

464,761

933,768

3,501

1,332

10

326

15

32,358

Delaware

358,698

207,203

171,179

2,161

727

269

331

43

11,305

Dt. Col.

396,916

28,807

87,102

2,199

3,910

?

?

?

– –

Florida

5,114,039

5,118,357

3,814,567

40,479

7,595

3,309

?

1,421

197,982

Idaho

135,485

528,345

308,561

10,692

?

3,727

?

?

– –

Iowa

699,001

719,591

661,736

12,329

2,923

0

0

0

– –

Kansas

497,207

852,453

538,359

21,177

0

0

0

0

0

Kentucky

1,640,231

1,580,200

319,168

14,560

2,035

1,029

?

161

334

Louis’na

1,213,875

1,004,125

679,560

14,804

2,281

165

0

885

110,653

Maine

405,087

321,935

362,574

56

45,577

?

?

?

?

Md.

2,252,905

993,862

850,098

16,393

6,054

?

?

?

3,820

Mass.

1,534,549

476,480

2,756,915

19,097

3,793

370

78

145

21,482

Nebraska

356,700

594,276

270,297

18,155

?

?

?

?

957

Nevada

624,501

548,517

492,247

17,269

2,499

81,789

?

?

– –

N. Hamp.

277,720

267,526

324,802

?

?

?

?

?

– –

N. Jersey

2,576,742

1,506,450

2,410,952

21,450

11,735

16,233

?

1,879

30,463

N. M.

599,713

412,978

299,686

13,240

7,288

964

993

?

8,885

N. York

6,173,560

2,709,044

2,797,207

20,504

22,322

?

45,921

1,307

548,482

No. Car.

2,493,127

2,177,187

2,449,268

47,417

?

?

?

?

– –

Okla.

698,280

1,115,994

373,208

17,477

?

?

?

?

– –

Oregon

1,050,663

761,678

953,700

21,812

8,080

3,698

8,646

?

137,924

Penn.

4,026,525

3,420,972

1,232,293

39,760

8,350

?

?

?

– –

Rhode Is.

299,011

99,230

313,444

?

?

?

?

?

– –

So. Dak.

153,830

279,187

140,971

2,576

?

143

?

?

– –

Utah

244,415

847,548

484,969

19,022

2,261

6,196

?

?

60,616

W. Va.

393,798

433,461

290,807

9,099

2,212

133

?

?

– –

Wyo.

45,938

195,919

35,162

2,597

0

729

?

?

– –

TOTAL

48,019,985

35,732,180

34,699,567

710,123

243,845

132,097

56,295

5,856

2,038,314

Percent

39.48%

29.38%

28.53%

.58%

.20%

.11%

.05%

.00+%

1.67%

Figures in the "other" column are: Alaska: Alaskan Independence 18,983, Alliance 26, Moderate 286, Progressive 170, Patriots 171, Veterans 1,322; California: American Independent 715,712, Peace & Freedom 110,576, Common Sense 17,322, Peoples 622, California National 400, American Solidarity 202; Colorado: Approval Voting 4,046, Unity 3,215; Connecticut: Independent Party; Delaware: Independent Party 9,807, Conservative 766, American Delta 604, Socialist Workers 128; Florida: Independent Party 195,333, Socialism & Liberation 1,369, Ecology 1,108, People’s 106, Unity 66; Kentucky: Socialist Workers; Louisiana: Independent Party 110,653; Maryland: Working Class 2,693, Bread & Roses 1,127; Massachusetts: United Independent 20,976, Socialist 1,388, Prohibition 18; Nebraska: Legal Marijuana Now; New Jersey: Conservative 16,104, Socialist 7,810, Natural Law 6,549; New Mexico: Independent American 5,135 Better for America 3,750; New York: Independence 388,779, Conservative 154,674, Women’s Equality 4,468, SAM 561; Oregon: Independent Party 134,996, Progressive 2,928; Utah: Independent American 58,331, United Utah 2,285.

Totals October 2020 were: Democratic 47,106,084 (39.67%), Republican 35,041,482 (29.51%), independent & miscellaneous 33,696,700 (28.38%), Libertarian 652,261 (.55%), Green 240,222 (.20%), Constitution 129,556 (.11%), Working Families 49,758 (.04%), Reform 9,004 (.01%), other parties 1,814,973 (1.53%).

Totals October 2016 were: Democratic 45,690,825 (40.60%), Republican 33,052,332 (29.37%), independent & miscellaneous 31,200,104 (27.72%), Libertarian 497,535 (.44%), Green 256,560 (.23%), Constitution 92,483 (.08%), Reform 5,294 (.00+%), Working Families 61,517 (.05%), other parties 1,662,329 (1.50%).

Totals October 2012 were: Dem. 43,512,746 (41.85%), Rep. 31,298,863 (30.10%), indp. & misc. 26,808,810 (25.79%), Libertarian 330,811 (.32%), Green 250,682 (.24%), Constitution 77,918 (.07%), Reform 22,880 (.02%), Americans Elect 6,408 (.01%), other parties 1,659,537 (1.60%).

Totals October 2008 were: Dem. 43,933,901 (43.62%), Rep. 30,944,590 (30.72%), indp. & misc. 24,157,259 (23.98%), AIP/Constitution 438,222 (.44%), Green 255,019 (.25%), Libertarian 240,328 (.24%), Reform 32,961 (.03%), other parties 675,980 (.67%).

Totals October 2004 were: Dem. 37,301,951 (42.19%), Rep. 28,988,593 (32.79%), indp. & misc. 20,471,250 (23.15%), Constitution 320,019 (.36%), Green 298,701 (.34%), Libertarian 235,521 (.27%), Reform 63,729 (.07%), Natural Law 39,670 (.04%), other parties 695,639 (.79%).


MINOR PARTIES DO POORLY IN 2021 GUBERNATORIAL ELECTIONS

New Jersey and Virginia held gubernatorial elections on November 2, 2021. In both states, minor party nominees did worse than normal.

New Jersey unofficial results: Democratic 51.23%; Republican 48.00%; Green .32%; Libertarian .30%; Socialist Workers .15%. In past New Jersey gubernatorial elections, the Libertarian Party had polled a higher percentage in 1989, 1997, 2005, 2013, and 2017. The Green Party had polled a higher percentage in 2005, 2013, and 2017. The Socialist Workers Party had polled a higher percentage in 1946, 1985, and 1989.

Virginia official results: Republican 50.57%; Democratic 48.64%; Liberation .70%; miscellaneous write-ins .08%. That was the lowest share of the vote for any minor party or independent candidate who was on the ballot for Governor of Virginia since 1957.


2022 PETITIONING

The Alabama Libertarian Party now has approximately 37,000 signatures on its party petition, and has 2,600 on its North Dakota petition. The Green Party is petitioning in Arizona for Yavapai County office, and is petitioning for statewide party status in Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, and North Carolina. The Constitution Party is petitioning in North Carolina.

The Common Sense Party is doing a registration drive in California, and expects to succeed in time to be qualified for the 2022 election. If it succeeds, it will be the first new qualified party in California since 2011, when Americans Elect qualified.


FIVE MINOR PARTIES WON AN ELECTION ON NOVEMBER 2, 2021

At local elections on November 2, the Libertarian, Green, Working Families, and SAM Parties all elected at least one member in a partisan election. Also, the Socialist Party won a non-partisan election. The next issue of BAN will have more information.


BUFFALO MAYOR WRITE-IN VOTES

On November 2, Buffalo, New York Mayor Byron Brown won re-election, even though he was not on the ballot. He defeated the Democratic nominee with write-in votes. He had lost the June 2021 Democratic primary, but used write-ins to state a comeback.


NEW YORK CITYWIDE OFFICE RETURNS

~

MAYOR

PUB ADV.

COMPT.

Dem.

66.14%

67.62%

68.65%

Rep.

28.76%

23.74%

23.35%

Consv

1.14%

5.99%

5.63%

Libt.

.28%

1.31%

1.79%

Soc.

2.44%

no nominee

no nom.

Save

.17%

.33%

.40%

indps.

.57%

.85%

none

New York city elected three partisan citywide officers on November 2: Mayor, Public Advocate, and Comptroller. The table above shows the percentage of the vote for all of the parties that had nominees for those offices. "Consv" = Conservative. "Libt" = Libertarian. "Soc" = Socialism and Liberation. "Save" = Save Our City. The Working Families Party did not participate in these elections.

Although New York city used ranked choice voting for its June 2021 primaries, it did not use RCV for the general election.


WEST VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT PARTY WON’T SUE FOR RECOGNITION

The Independent Party of West Virginia has decided not to sue the state over its refusal to recognize that the party is ballot-qualified. West Virginia defines a party as a group that got 1% for Governor, and the party got almost 2% at the last gubernatorial election in 2020, but they were write-in votes. The state says the party didn’t exist when it got those votes, although there is evidence that it did.


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Comments

December 2021 Ballot Access News Print Edition — 5 Comments

  1. Item 11, party vote totals: the national totals for the first few entries are apparently in error.

  2. Item 10, most crowded ballot: your chart appears to indicate that in 2000, California had 7 US Senate general election candidates who each qualified by gathering about 150,000 signatures or more. Is that actually true?

  3. Item 11 is correct. It is voter registration totals, not election returns. Not every state has registration by party. People sometimes look at my voter registration charts and wonder why the total number of registered voters in the nation is so low. That is because the chart only includes states that have registration by party. As to item 10, the most crowded ballots for US Senate, California had 7 qualified parties in 2000 and each one of them had a US Senate nominee. No petition was needed for any of the 7. The 150,000 is for an independent candidate and there were no independent candidates in the race. But thanks for looking at my issue!

  4. I’m referring to the national totals at the bottom of the chart in 11, currently listed as the exact same number – 48 million and change – for Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Libertarians. As far as I know, the totals for each party in each state are correct, as are the percentages for each of the parties below the raw national totals, and the raw national totals for the remaining parties. Some kind of asterisk or footnote might clear up the confusion I had about item 10, in case anyone else wondered the same thing. Thank you for producing your issue.

  5. Thank you, Wyatt, you’re right. The Democratic total is correct. The Republican total should be 35,732,180. The Indp, misc total should be 34,699,567. The Libertarian total should be 710,123. I appreciate your noticing this problem. I will ask my webmaster to fix it.

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