On March 10, the Alabama legislature came into session. The Alabama legislature convenes considerably later than the state legislatures of almost any other state. State Senator Cam Ward has said he will introduce a ballot access improvement bill today. Check back later.
On March 10, U.S. District Court Judge Andrea Wood postponed the status conference in Libertarian Party of Illinois v Illinois State Board of Elections from March 11 to March 25. She had already said that she would issue an opinion before the next status conference. Therefore, the fact that she has moved the status conference two weeks into the future shows that the decision won’t be out today or tomorrow, but surely it will be out before March 25.
The issue is the unique Illinois law that says a newly-qualifying party must run a full slate of candidates. No other state has ever had such a requirement, and Illinois does not require already-established parties to run a full slate. The Libertarian case was filed in 2012 and has never had a declaratory decision, although when this case was assigned to a different judge, that earlier judge had enjoined the law, saying it was probably unconstitutional.
Jefferson County, Florida, is in northern Florida and had a population of only 14,761 at the 2010 census. It elects County Commissioners from five single-member districts. District three happens to contain a state prison that has 1,157 inmates.
On March 9, some voters who live in Jefferson County, but outside district 3, filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the County Commission Districts violate the U.S. Constitution. When the county draws the districts, it uses census data to make sure the districts have approximately equal population. However, 43.2% of the voting age population in District 3 is in prison, and prisoners can’t vote. The lawsuit charges that the actual number of people who are permitted to vote in District 3 is far smaller than in the other four districts, and therefore voters in the other four districts are underrepresented. The lawsuit is Calvin v Jefferson County Board of Commissioners, n.d., 4:15cv-131. The ACLU is handling the case.
On February 25, the Arizona House of Representatives passed HB 2608. It makes it far more difficult for a member of a small qualified party to get on his or her own party’s primary ballot. Existing law makes the number of signatures 1% of a party’s registration. The bill converts that to one-fourth of 1% of all the registered voters for statewide office, and one-half of 1% for U.S. House and legislature.
It is irrational to raise the number of signatures for primary ballot access, since no minor party primary ballot in Arizona has ever been crowded. It is extraordinarily rare for a minor party primary ballot in Arizona to have more than a single candidate listed.
The bill passed on a party line vote. Every Republican who voted on the bill voted “yes”. Every Democrat who voted on the bill voted “No.” Currently the only two ballot-qualified parties in Arizona, other than the Democratic and Republican Parties, are the Libertarian and Green Party.
The Veterans Party recently attained qualified party status in Mississippi. The party was formerly ballot-qualified in Florida, but otherwise has never been a qualified party in any state. Mississippi has the nation’s easiest law for a group to become and remain a qualified party. The group merely submits a list of party officers. Mississippi has had this law since 1890 and has never changed it, nor has the law ever caused any problem. The Mississippi experience rebuts the idea that severe ballot access hurdles for new or small parties are needed for any legitimate reason. Thanks to Independent Political Report for the news.
