Pennsylvania Tries to Defend Ban on Out-of-State Circulators By Saying It is Protecting Political Parties

The Pennsylvania ban on out-of-state circulators for general election petitions has already been struck down. Trent Pool, a professional petitioner who lives in Texas, has his own lawsuit, trying to strike down the Pennsylvania ban for primary petitions. All the briefs have been filed as of January 26, 2017. The case is Benezet Consulting v Cortes, 1:16cv-74.

The state is trying to defend its ban by saying it is only protecting the interests of the two parties that hold primaries in Pennsylvania, the Republican and Democratic Parties. But Pool counters that by showing that the major parties have no bylaws banning out-of-state circulators from circulating primary petitions, nor have they intervened in this lawsuit. Furthermore, as Pool points out, he is a member of the Texas Republican Party, and therefore it is nonsense for the state to claim that if he had been allowed last year to circulate a petition to get Rand Paul on the Republican presidential primary ballot, he would have been “raiding” the Republican Party.

January 2017 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Ballot Access News
January 1, 2017 – Volume 32, Number 8

This issue was printed on white paper.


Table of Contents

  1. TEN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS TRY TO USE INDEPENDENT JUDGMENT; SEVEN SUCCEED
  2. LAWSUIT NEWS
  3. 2016 U.S. HOUSE VOTE
  4. 2016 U.S. SENATE VOTE
  5. 2016 GUBERNATORIAL VOTE
  6. 2016 PRESIDENTIAL VOTE FOR TOP EIGHT CANDIDATES
  7. MINOR PARTY NON-PARTISAN WINS
  8. GREEN BEATS GOP IN D.C.
  9. LIBERTARIANS IN TWO-WAY RACES CARRY COUNTIES IN TWO STATES
  10. GREENS AGAIN WIN PRESIDENCY OF AUSTRIA
  11. LIBERTARIANS GAIN A COUNTY LEGISLATOR IN ILLINOIS
  12. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

Associated Press Story Explains the Three Pending Lawsuits Over Kansas Voter Registration

The upcoming April special election for U.S. House in the Kansas 4th district has put the spotlight on the three pending lawsuits against Kansas voter registration restrictions. The existence of the special election may cause one or more of these cases to be decided more quickly than otherwise. See this story.

Bills in Two States to Use Instant Runoff for All Partisan Elections

Bills have been introduced in Connecticut and Hawaii to use Instant Runoff Voting for all partisan elections. They are in Connecticut and Hawaii. A similar bill in Virginia has already been defeated.

The Connecticut bill is HB 6153, by Representative Josh Elliott, a Democrat. The Hawaii bill is SB 824, by Senator Russell Ruderman (D-Puna).

The Virginia bill had been HB 2315, by Delegate Nicholas Freitas (R-Culpeper). It was tabled by the House Committee on January 26. Thanks to Fairvote for this information.

Twenty-four Presidential Candidates Received At Least 1,000 Votes in November 2016

Twenty-four individuals who were actually running for president in November 2016 received at least 1,000 recorded votes. This does not include individuals who were not running for president in November, such as Bernie Sanders, but who nevertheless received hundreds of thousands of write-in votes, most of which were not counted or reported.

The final totals for these twenty-four appear to be:

Hillary Clinton 65,844,954, Democrat, Working Families, Women’s Equality
Donald Trump 62,979,879, Republican, Conservative, American Independent
Gary Johnson 4,488,919, Libertarian, Independence of New York
Jill Stein, 1,457,045, Green
Evan McMullin, 732,001, independent, Better for America, Independence of S.C. & Mn.
Darrell Castle, 203,024, Constitution
Gloria La Riva, 74,397, Socialism & Liberation, Peace & Freedom, Liberty Union
Rocky De La Fuente, 33,136, independent, Reform, American Delta
Richard Duncan, 24,308, independent
Dan Vacek, 13,537, Legal Marijuana Now
Alyson Kennedy, 12,467, Socialist Workers
Michael Smith, 9,352, independent
Chris Keniston, 7,254, Veterans
Michael Maturen, 6,765, American Solidarity
Lynn Kahn, 5,730, independent, New Independent Party of Iowa
Jim Hedges, 5,617, Prohibition
Thomas Hoefling, 4,856, America’s Party
Monica Moorehead, 4,319, Workers World
Laurence Kotlikoff, 3,604, independent
Peter Skewes, 3,250, American Party of South Carolina
Rocky Giordani, 2,752, Independent American Party of Utah
Emidio “Mimi” Soltysik, 2,706, Socialist, Natural Law of Michigan
Scott Copeland, 2,356, Constitution Party of Idaho
Kyle Kopitke, 1,096, Independent American of Colorado

I appreciate the help from Wauna Keegan with this, although the totals above are mine, not his. His totals omitted the write-ins from Minnesota.