Oregon Legislature Adjourns, After Having Passed Four Election Law Bills

Posted on by July 10, 2017
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The Oregon legislature adjourned on July 7. This year’s session passed four election law bills. The most significant was SB 802, allowing 16-year-olds to register to vote (although they won’t be able to vote until they are 18). The law had already allowed 17-year-olds to register.

HB 2696 made a slight change to the Voters Pamphlet regarding bond measures. HB 3408 clarified that an applicant to become a registered voter need not be the person who delivers the form. HB 2298 expanded the list of candidates who must file a Statement of Economic Interest.

New Colorado Voter Registration Data

Posted on by July 10, 2017
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The Colorado Secretary of State has posted the July 1, 2017 voter registration data. The percentages for each party are: Democratic 31.49%; Republican 31.25%; Libertarian 1.18%; Green .34%; Constitution .32%; Unity .03%; independents and others 35.40%.

In November 2016, the percentages were: Democratic 31.80%; Republican 31.51%; Libertarian 1.16%; Green .35%; Constitution .30%; Unity .02%; independents and others 34.86%.

New South Dakota Registration Data

Posted on by July 9, 2017
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The South Dakota Secretary of State’s web page keeps a running tally of the number of registered voters in each party. Here is a link to the totals as of July 8, 2017. The percentages are: Republican 46.21%; Democratic 30.68%; Libertarian .31%; Constitution .09%; other and independent 22.72%.

Just before the November 2016 election, the percentages were: Republican 46.31%; Democratic 31.35%; Libertarian .30%; Constitution .09%; other and independent 21.95%.

Special Note for Ballot Access News Subscribers in California

Posted on by July 8, 2017
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Unfortunately, when the July 1 2017 Ballot Access News was being prepared for postal mailing, in approximately 30 instances, the middle page was accidentally omitted from the envelope. It appears these faulty mailings went to California. If you happen to be a print subscriber, and your issue was missing pages three and four, please e-mail richardwinger@yahoo.com and I will send the missing page.

The contents of that page were an article about the bill moving the California primary from June to March, amended to apply to midterm year primaries as well as presidential years; an article about the lawsuit in which a North Carolina independent voter is suing to overturn the law that says all members of boards of elections must be members of the two largest parties; an article about the United Utah Party lawsuit against the early deadline for a new party; news about the further demise of straight-ticket devices; an article about HR 3057, the bill in congress for proportional representation; U.S. Supreme Court news; a book review of “Suffragette – My own story” by Emmeline Pankhurst; an article about the Texas sore loser law as applied to presidential candidates being upheld; an article about new research on whether top-two systems help moderates; and further legislative news.

Elliot Traiman, Long-Time Co-Treasurer of COFOE, Dies Unexpectedly

Posted on by July 8, 2017
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Elliot Traiman, age 61, of Long Beach, New York, died unexpectedly on July 7. He was co-Treasurer of the Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE). He had been ill but it was a shock that he died.

Elliot Traiman and his partner Alice Kelsey have been associated with the COFOE board since the very beginning of COFOE, in 1985. COFOE gets all its revenue from readers of Ballot Access News. COFOE uses that money to help fund constitutional ballot access lawsuits, especially for independent candidates. Two recent cases that COFOE helped finance are the case against the number of signatures needed for independents for statewide office in Maryland, and the number of signatures needed for independent candidates in Alabama special congressional elections. The Maryland case has been won and the law has been improved. The Alabama case won in U.S. District Court and the state is appealing to the Eleventh Circuit.