The San Jose Mercury-News has this article about California’s top-two primary, although the article covers additional topics. The article says the top-two system in California has helped well-funded business interests in the legislature.
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Ballot Access News
September 1, 2015 – Volume 31, Number 4
| This issue was printed on gray paper. |
Table of Contents
- STEVE PEACE, AUTHOR OF CALIFORNIA TOP-TWO, NOW WANTS TOP-THREE WITH INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING
- PENNSYLVANIA WILL APPEAL BALLOT ACCESS DECISION
- U.S. DISTRICT COURT UPHOLDS ARKANSAS MARCH 3 DEADLINE
- PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES
- PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES
- SOUTH DAKOTA ACCIDENTALLY REPEALED DEADLINE
- HISTORICAL PRECEDENTS THAT SORE LOSER LAWS DON’T APPLY TO PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES
- 2015 PARTY REVENUE FROM STATE INCOME TAX “CHECK-OFF”
- 2016 PETITIONING FOR PRESIDENT
- THREE MINOR PARTIES CHOOSE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEES
- GREENS SET LATE CONVENTION
- FORMER CONGRESSMAN SEEMS LIKELY TO SEEK CONSTITUTION NOMINATION
- CANADA HOLDS 4-PARTY DEBATE
- OREGON INDEPENDENT PARTY QUALIFIES FOR ITS OWN PRIMARY
- SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL
CNN is sponsoring the first Democratic presidential debate. It will be held in Las Vegas on October 13, Tuesday evening. Here are the rules on who may participate. They include being at least 1% in polls. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
Given that both the Republican and Democratic presidential debates sponsored by CNN have a 1% poll requirement, the Commission on Presidential Debates’ poll requirement of 15% seems more and more to be deviant and far too harsh.
Here are the rules on how a candidate gets on the Florida Republican presidential primary ballot this year. The petition alternative requires 125 signatures from each of the state’s 27 U.S. House districts. The old district boundaries are to be used, even though the district boundaries are about to be changed.
The rules say the petitions must be collected by volunteers. But in Duke v Smith, the 11th circuit ruled that Florida presidential primary ballot access rules are state action, despite the discretion given to the major political parties. And the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1988, in Meyer v Grant, that a ban on paying circulators violates the U.S. Constitution.
The petitions are due November 23. Probably no one expects any petitions to be circulated, because the alternatives appear easier: either attending a particular party fund-raising event, or paying $25,000. Thanks to Michael Auslen for the link.
Jonathan Bernstein, a Bloomberg View columnist and author, has written two pieces this year defending debates that include only the Republican and Democratic nominees. Here is his latest column, “Leave the Debates Alone.” His article says that when others are invited into the debates, the results are undesirable. He then links to an article about the 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election, in which Reform Party nominee Jesse Ventura was included in all the debates and won the election. To see that, use the link that is in his paragraph that starts, “In addition, multiparty, first-past-the-elections tend to be unstable.”
Bernstein also links to his June 2015 article called, “Debates Aren’t Broken So Don’t Fix Them.” That piece has a link to yet another article (written in 2012) which claims that debates don’t affect the outcome of the election.
Bernstein says nothing about the presidential primary presidential debates, which have had multiple candidates and have attracted very big audiences. He says nothing about the fact that the general election presidential debates, with only the Democrat and Republican included in all elections for the last 19 years, have had declining viewership over the last decade. He says nothing about public opinion polls which say that the public wants inclusive debates. Finally, he does not acknowledge that the general election debates are financed with corporate donations.