Activists have located state legislators in three state recently, who will introduce bills to improve ballot access laws. In Maryland, a sponsor has been found who will introduce a bill to clarify that signatures on petitions need not be an exact match of the voter’s name as recorded on voter registration records.
In Michigan, a sponsor has been found for a bill that will let a ballot-qualified party change its name, so that the new name matches the name of the national party that the state party is affiliated with. This bill is especially needed by the Constitution Party. The Constitution Party changed its name at its national convention ten years ago, but in Michigan, the party is still being forced to keep its old name, the U.S. Taxpayers Party.
In Missouri, a sponsor has been found for a bill to fix the drafting error in the 1993 ballot access improvement bill. One of the purposes of the 1993 reform, which did pass and get signed into law, was to make it possible for unqualified parties to circulate a petition to qualify the party before that group had chosen its nominees. But due to a drafting error, the law still requires such a petition to list the name of the presidential elector candidates, and a presidential candidate, even though the law doesn’t force the group to list its other nominees.
How many armies of folks have written the *perfect* election law to deal with all the party hack unequal / rotten stuff in current election laws ???
Why does the election law wheel have to be re-invented every 2 years ???
Ballot access laws have slowly been getting better since 1985, when COFOE (Coalition for Free & Equal Elections) was founded, and the year BAN was launched.
In 1984, it took 671,527 valid signatures to get an independent presidential candidate, or the presidential candidate of a new party, on the ballot in all 51 jurisdictions. That was .72% of the presidential vote cast that year.
By contrast, in 2008, it took 667,248 valid signatures for the same purpose, which was only .51% of the presidential vote cast that year. That is a 30% reduction when the two percentages are compared. Work does get results.
Separate is NOT equal.
Brown v. Bd of Ed 1954
EQUAL ballot access requirements for ALL candidates for the same office in the same area.
How many flow chart steps are possible in ANY election law ??? — which the party hacks in the State legislatures manage to keep UNEQUAL and messed up ???
Reminder — having elections is one of the very few things that the States MUST do — since 4 July 1776.
What is the recent total election law related spending — as a percentage of the GDP ???
0.1 percent ??? — less ???, more ???
P.R. and A.V. — no primaries are needed — to even reduce the cost about half.
What’s the Michigan bill, Richard? I can’t find anything on that subject with MichiganLegislature.org’s search pages — nothing under the “Elections” category with “party” or “parties” in it.
The Michigan bill has been drafted but it hasn’t been introduced yet.