On March 13, the South Dakota legislature passed SB 69, which makes ballot access worse for both newly-qualifying parties and independent candidates. The bill was amended on the House floor to soften some of the harm, and the Senate accepted … Continue reading
California Assemblymember Frank Bigelow has introduced AB 372, to require write-in candidates to pay a filing fee if they are running for a partisan office and place first or second in the June primary. The bill is probably prompted by … Continue reading
On March 16, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled that candidate petitions are not valid unless they have the statutorily required number of valid signatures. Jackson-Hicks v The East St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, 2015 IL 118929. This may … Continue reading
On March 16, a U.S. District Court upheld Ohio’s ballot access law for newly-qualifying parties relative to the claims made by the Ohio Green Party. The law was passed in 2013 and did not change the 1% (of the last … Continue reading
The Maryland House Ways & Means Committee heard HB 626 on February 25. This is the bill to ease the law on how a party remains on the ballot. Current law says a party continues to be ballot-qualified if it … Continue reading
