Opponents of Privacy for Petition Signers Post Photocopies of Signed Initiative Sheets

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Knowthyneighbor.org is an organization that supports legal rights for gay people. It was created by two Massachusetts residents. They believe that is is useful to post searchable databases of the names and residence addresses of voters who sign ballot measure petitions in support of measures that injure gay people.

Knowthyneighbor.org has posted photocopies of the petition sheets submitted in Arkansas, on a proposal to make it illegal for same-sex couples to adopt children. Included is a searchable database. Any person visiting the web page can search for any particular potential signer. If the database finds that signer, then a clickable link takes the viewer to a photocopy of the particular petition sheet signed by that voter. Then, the viewer can see the appearance of that signer’s signature, and learn the signer’s date of birth, and the signer’s residence address.

The web page also has searchable data bases for similar anti-gay ballot measures in Florida and Massachusetts, and says soon it will post data for Washington. However, at least the Florida and Massachusetts links don’t go to an actual copy of a petition sheet. For Florida and Massachusetts, a viewer can search by either name or address to see if any particular person signed the ballot measure, but it is not possible to view the petition itself.

If the idea of searchable databases for petition signers spreads, it will become more difficult in the future to persuade people to sign petitions. In the 1940’s, newspapers sometimes published the names and addresses of people who signed petitions for the Communist Party or the Progressive Party, and the searchable database idea may spread from ballot measure petitions to petitions to qualify new parties for the ballot. Thanks to The Militant for this news.

“Duopoly: How the Republicrats Control the Electoral Process” is Valuable Tool for Ballot Access Activists

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Darryl W. Perry has recently published a book “Duopoly: How the Republicrats Control the Electoral Process”, which is available on Amazon. Normally this blog doesn’t carry book reviews, although the printed Ballot Access does. However, “Duopoly” is too useful not to be publicized in both places.

The book has five appendices, each containing valuable statistical data that is not easy to find elsewhere. Appendix One is especially useful. It is titled, “Congressional Re-election Rates for U.S. House of Representatives”. It covers the entire period 1789 to the present. It shows, for each regularly-scheduled election, the number of seats, the number of open seats, the number of members seeking re-election, the number being re-elected, and then shows percentages for each of the last two categories. At a glance, once can see that re-election rates have increased in the modern era, relative to the past when elections were less regulated. In 1874, only 58.3% of the incumbents who were running for re-election were re-elected. Other years in which re-election rates were below 70% were 1842, 1854, 1862, 1890, 1894, and 1932. By comparison, starting in 1950, there has never been an election with that percentage being lower than 85%.

The book also has re-election rates for the Canadian House of Commons, 1869 to the present, showing Canadian elections are much more likely to result in a high turnover. Canada has equal and tolerant ballot access laws for all candidates, unlike the U.S.

There is much, much more that is useful in this book, and a future paper edition of B.A.N. will review the book in more detail.

FEC Posts 2012 Congressional and Presidential Primary Dates, and Dates of Major Party Caucuses

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The Federal Election Commission has compiled a chart, showing congressional primary dates, presidential primary dates, and dates of major party presidential caucuses. See it here. It was correct as of October 24, 2011. There have been a handful of changes since then, so probably the FEC will prepare an updated chart later. Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

New Louisiana Voter Registration Figures for Each Qualified Party

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The Louisiana Secretary of State posts new voter registration totals on his web page every month, but those statistics never include any parties except the Democratic and Republican Parties, even though Louisiana has five qualified parties. However, on November 3, his office issued a report that shows how many registered voters there are in each party, including even the unqualified parties.

The new totals, converted to percentages, for the five qualified parties, are: Democratic 49.44%; Republican 26.89%; Libertarian .17%; Reform .05%; Green .05%. Independent voters, plus those registered in unqualified parties, equal 23.41%.

A year ago, the percentages were: Democratic 50.62%; Republican 26.21%; Libertarian .13%; Reform .05%; Green .04%; independents plus miscellaneous 22.95%.

The monthly totals for the two major parties show that the Democratic Party dipped below 50% of all registered voters for the first time at the June 1, 2011 tally, and has continued to make very slow declines since then.

A party becomes ballot-qualified when its registration reaches at least 1,000, and also when it submits a list of its officers, its bylaws, and a fee of $1,000. The only three unqualified parties that are organized, and that have even 50 registrants, are the Conservative Party with 396 registrants, the Constitution Party with 137 registrants, and the Socialist Party with 62 registrants. Thanks to Randall Hayes, who obtained the full registration report.