Conflicting Court Rulings on Whether Independent Candidate Should be on Ballot Create Crisis in Virgin Islands

Posted on by October 27, 2014
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Early voting in the U.S. Virgin Islands started on October 21. Among the offices on the ballot are candidates for the territory’s unicameral legislature, which is called the Senate, and which has 15 members, all with two-year terms.

On October 24, the Virgin Islands Supreme Court ordered incumbent independent Senator Alicia “Chucky” Hansen removed from the ballot, even though early voting had already started. Bryan v Fawkes. The Court said her name should be covered up with stickers on all the ballots that hadn’t been distributed yet. See this newspaper story, which says election administrators have now halted early voting.

Hansen failed to file income tax returns for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004. She was convicted of three misdemeanors. The Virgin Islands charter says senators must not have been convicted of a felony or any crime involving moral turpitude. Hansen was elected to the Senate in 2010 and re-elected in 2012. She filed to run for a third term this year, but on August 28, the Virgin Islands Supreme Court ruled that failure to file income tax returns is a crime of moral turpitude, and that she is not eligible to run for re-election, even though the Virgin Islands charter says the legislature itself shall be the “sole” judge of the qualifications of its members.

On September 2, the Governor of the Virgin Islands pardoned her, but a Virgin Islands superior court (a territorial court, not a federal court) refused to order election officials to put her back on the ballot. Some of Hansen’s supporters then filed a federal lawsuit on September 7, Payne v Fawkes, 1:14cv-53, saying their voting rights were being violated by keeping Hansen off the ballot. On September 12, the federal court put her on the ballot. At first the superior court blocked that, and on October 6, the federal court said that it could not interfere with a territorial court order. But on October 10, the superior court agreed that she should be on the ballot. Ballots were then printed with her name on. But, surprisingly, on October 24, the Virgin Islands Supreme Court (which apparently really dislikes Senator Hansen) said she should not be on the ballot. Thanks to Derek T. Muller and his Excess of Democracy blog for this story. Professor Muller thinks Senator Hansen and her voters may ask the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Virgin Islands Supreme Court.

Ohio Libertarian Party Files Brief on Why Current Ballot Access Law, Passed in 2013, is Unconstitutional

Posted on by October 26, 2014
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Last week, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed this brief in its ongoing ballot access lawsuit, which was filed in 2013 to overturn the 2013 law that altered the definition of a “political party.” The case is Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted, s.d., 2:13cv-953.

The brief argues that the Ohio Constitution requires that all parties nominate by primary. The 2013 law says newly-qualifying parties must nominate by convention.

The brief also argues that it is unconstitutional for a state to let voters register into qualified parties, but not unqualified parties. Ohio voter registration forms do not ask voters to choose a party (or independent status). Instead, Ohio considers a voter to be a member of a party when that voter votes in that party’s primary. With no more primaries for newly-qualifying parties, voters won’t be able to join those parties in the eyes of the state. Courts that have ruled that if states let voters register into a qualified party, they must let voters into active unqualified parties, include the Second Circuit, the Tenth Circuit, a U.S. District Court in Oklahoma, and a state appeals court in New Jersey.

According to this news story, the current Republican Secretary of State, Jon Husted, who is running for re-election, supports the 2013 law. The Democratic nominee, Nina Turner, opposes it. The third candidate in the race, Libertarian Kevin Knedler, also opposes the 2013 law, although the news story does not mention him.

October 2014 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Posted on by October 26, 2014
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Ballot Access News
October 1, 2014 – Volume 30, Number 5

This issue was printed on white paper.

Table of Contents

  1. CALIFORNIA EASES BALLOT ACCESS FOR MINOR PARTIES
  2. ALASKA SUBSTITUTION VICTORY
  3. OHIO LIBERTARIAN TRIAL REVEALS CORRUPT PROCESS
  4. CALIFORNIA REPEALS LOYALTY OATH
  5. SOUTH DAKOTA LIBERTARIANS LOSE PARTY RIGHTS CASE
  6. MICHIGAN LOSS
  7. COURT KEEPS ILLINOIS LIBERTARIANS ON BALLOT
  8. NEW YORK VICTORIES
  9. ARIZONA REPUBLICANS MAY CLOSE PRIMARY
  10. OTHER LAWSUIT NEWS
  11. CALIFORNIA REPUBLICAN FAVORS RESTORING WRITE-INS
  12. BOOK REVIEW: ELECTION LAW AND DEMOCRATIC THEORY
  13. CONGRESSIONAL BILL MANDATING TOP-TWO
  14. U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CANDIDATES ON THE BALLOT
  15. LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES ON THE BALLOT: DEMS, REPS FAIL TO RUN IN MANY LEGISLATIVE RACES
  16. POLLS SHOW LEADS FOR TWO INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES
  17. VETERAN BALLOT ACCESS ATTORNEY GARY SINAWSKI DIES
  18. GALLUP POLL ON NEW PARTY
  19. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

Harrison Hickman Article on the Oddity that the Three Classes of U.S. Senate Seats Vary so Much

Posted on by October 25, 2014
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Harrison Hickman, a pollster and political analyst, has this interesting article about the three Classes of U.S. Senate seats. This year, the Class II seats are up. The article explains the statistical anomaly that the Class II seats are quite different from the Class I and the Class III seats. 2014 is a year in which the Class II seats are up.

Every southern state has a Class II seat, except for Florida. By contrast, only five southern states have a Class I seat.

The population of the states with Class II seats is considerably lower than the states with Class I and Class III seats. This is all just a result of a random process.

The U.S. Constitution went into effect in 1789, and said U.S. Senators would have six year terms. Congress then held a lottery to determine which of the U.S. Senate seats fell into each of the three classes. The purpose was to determine when each seat would be up for a new election. One-third of the Senators elected initially were assigned to Class I, and they had to run again in 1790. The Class II seats were up in 1792, and the Class III seats were up in 1794. The pattern has continued to this day. When new states were admitted to the Union, their two Senate seats were assigned to one of the particular classes, so as to keep the number of seats in each Class as equal as possible. Today, there are 33 Class I seats, 33 Class II seats, and 34 Class III seats.

Particular seats never change their Class. If a Senator is elected in 2010, and resigns in 2011, a special election is held for that seat in 2012. But since that is a Class III seat, it then has another (regular) election in 2016.

Alameda County Green Party Asks California Voters to Cast Blank Ballots for Statewide Races

Posted on by October 25, 2014
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The Alameda County Green Party here suggests that California voters vote next month, but that they cast blank ballots for all the seven partisan statewide races. California is the only state this year in which voters cannot vote for any statewide partisan office unless they vote for a Democrat or a Republican.

The appeal is in Indybay.org (San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center), a well-read on-line news source.