The Washington state Libertarian Party has told the press that it will sue if the Secretary of State denies that it is now a qualified party. See this story.
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Fordham Law Review, December 2016 issue, has kindly published my article, “Does the Constitution Provide More Ballot Access Protection for Presidential Elections than for U.S. House Elections?” Here is a pdf of the article. I hope it focuses attention on the dismal state of ballot access laws in the United States for third parties and independents in U.S. House elections.
In Georgia, no one has successfully completed the independent or minor party petition to get on the ballot for U.S. House since 1964. In North Carolina and South Carolina, no independent candidate for U.S. House has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot. North Carolina has had government-printed ballots since 1901, and South Carolina since 1950.
Now is the time for people who are dissatisfied with current election laws to look for legislators who will introduce bills to improve the laws in 2017. Few people are aware that this is the best time to be doing that work. Some state legislatures have very early deadlines for bills. The most restrictive deadline is the Indiana legislature’s December 9, 2016 deadline for legislators to ask legislative staff to draft proposed bills.
Year after year, Indiana is the only state with restrictive ballot access in which no bill is introduced to improve those laws. No statewide minor party or independent petition has succeeded in Indiana since 2000. Indiana is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader (who placed third, in three presidential elections in a row) never got on the ballot (the others are North Carolina, Georgia, and Oklahoma). In the other states, there are always bills and/or lawsuits to do something about it, but Indiana is a dead zone. There is one Constitution Party activist working hard in Indiana to find a sponsor in time to meet the deadline. Anyone who lives in Indiana and who would like to help him should contact me at richardwinger@yahoo.com, or 415-922-9779.
The Eleventh Circuit will hear Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, 16-11689, in Atlanta, on Thursday, January 26, 2017. This is the case in which the U.S. District Court invalidated Georgia’s petition requirement, 1% of the number of registered voters, for president. The U.S. District Court said there was no reason for the state to require approximately 50,000 signatures, especially given the fact that no one had successfully petitioned for president in Georgia since 2000. The U.S. District Court then set the requirement at 7,500 until the legislature changes it.
Even with a requirement of 7,500 signatures in place, no presidential petition succeeded in Georgia in 2016. Jill Stein and Rocky De La Fuente both submitted more signatures than the 7,500 requirement, but the state said neither petition had enough valid signatures. Therefore it will be difficult for Georgia to argue to the Eleventh Circuit that the ballot will be too crowded if the state loses the case.
The state has also consistently argued that the plaintiff political parties lack a modicum of support. But given that Jill Stein polled at least 1,400,000 votes in the nation last month, it will be difficult for the state to argue that the Green Party lacks a modicum of support.
On December 1, California Congressman Xavier Becerra was chosen by Governor Jerry Brown to be California’s new Attorney General. That will trigger a special election in his district, the 34th. When Becerra was re-elected last month, his opponent under the top-two system was another Democrat, which shows that this is a safely Democratic district. The only candidates who had filed in the June 2016 primary were Becerra and two other Democrats.
Many new cabinet members already chosen by Donald Trump are members of Congress, and they will also resign, and special elections will be needed in their states.