Oklahoma Ballot Access Improvement Bills Introduced in House

Posted on by January 23, 2015
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As already noted, a bill to improve Oklahoma ballot access was introduced recently in the State Senate. Now there are two even better bills introduced in the House.

HB 2181, by Speaker of the House Jeffrey Hickman (R-Fairview), would lower the petition to recognize a party to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. That would be 8,249 signatures in 2016.

HB 1813, by Representative Eric Proctor (D-Tulsa) would make the petition for a new party exactly 5,000 signatures, which was the Oklahoma law between 1924 and 1974. Oklahoma never had more than two minor parties on the ballot at any election during those fifty years.

The State Senate bill, SB 318, sets the party petition at 2% of the last vote cast. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for the news about the House bills.

Georgia Ballot Access Bill Introduced

Posted on by January 23, 2015
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Six Georgia State House members have introduced HB 58, which lowers minor party and independent petitions for district and county office. The bill lowers these petitions from 5% of the number of registered voters, to 2% of the last vote cast when that office was last voted on.

If the bill were in effect for 2016, an independent or minor party candidate for U.S. House in the average district would need 3,294 signatures. The current law for the average U.S. House district is 18,540 signatures. Thus, the bill would be a big improvement for U.S. House, legislature, and county office.

The bill would have no effect on the law that enables a group to get on the ballot for all the statewide offices (but not the district offices). That existing law requires a petition of 1% of the number of registered voters (51,912).

The bill also makes changes for statewide candidate petitions, but the statewide changes are not helpful. It would require 2% of the last vote cast for statewide office, just as it does for district office. For statewide office in 2018, if the bill were in effect, 51,004 signatures would be needed, whereas under current law 51,912 are needed, so that would mean virtually no change. But, if the bill were in effect, the 2016 presidential candidate petitions would be worse than they are now. Current law for independent presidential candidates in 2016 requires 49,336 signatures, but if the bill were in effect 78,100 signatures would be needed.

The chief sponsor of HB 58 is Representative John Pezold (R-Columbus). The others are Rusty Kidd (I-Milledgeville), Joe Wilkinson (R-Atlanta), Michael Caldwell (R-Woodstock), David Stover (R-Newnan), and Scot Turner (R-Holly Springs). HB 58 is almost exactly like a bill introduced in 2005, HB 927. The 2005 bill was introduced in late March, so it was too late to advance that year, and it didn’t advance in 2006 either. However, the lead sponsor for HB 927 back in 2005 was Representative David Ralston, and Ralston is now the House Speaker. Thanks to Garland Favorito for this news.

Maine Group that Supports Public Funding of Campaigns Submits Initiative Petition to Expand the Program

Posted on by January 22, 2015
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On January 21, the supporters of Maine’s program for public funding of campaigns submitted 85,000 signatures for their statewide initiative to expand the public funding program. See this story. Assuming the initiative gets on the ballot, it will have a vote this year, in November 2015.

Mississippi Committee to Review Election Laws Issues Report

Posted on by January 22, 2015
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The Mississippi Secretary of State’s office set up a Committee to Review the state’s election laws last year. On January 16, 2015, the committee issued this 18-page report. The committee has 50 members. On the issue of whether to provide for early voting (“no-excuse absentee voting”), the committee voted in favor 36-3, with 11 abstentions. On the issue of whether to provide for on-line voter registration, the committee favored that idea 32-6, with 12 abstentions.

On the issue of what kind of primary system the state should use, 23 voted in favor of a Louisiana-style system, and 20 voted in favor of keeping Mississippi’s open primary. Seven abstained. However, the members who voted in favor of keeping the open primary recommended consolidating the Democratic and Republican primaries into the same polling locations, to save money. Currently, Mississippi election officials must provide separate locations for the Republican primary and the Democratic primary. Mississippi has other qualified parties but they don’t actually have primaries because the state doesn’t print up primary ballots for any party unless at least two people from the same party file to run against each other, and that virtually never happens.

The Report refers to the Louisiana system as a top-two primary. The authors of the Report mention that California also has a top-two primary, but the Report on page 11 says “A top-two primary election system would appear to operate as a general election with a runoff, rather than a primary election which narrows the list of candidates of a political party for a general election.” This describes the Louisiana system. The Report mentions that the members of the Committee were visited by Louisiana election officials, who briefed them on the Louisiana system.