November 2024 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Posted on by November 29, 2024
18

LEAST VOTER CHOICE FOR U.S. HOUSE SINCE 1990
AND LEAST CHOICE FOR LEGISLATIVE RACES SINCE AT LEAST 1986

At the November 5, 2024 election, voters nationwide will see fewer candidates for U.S. House on their ballots than at any time since 1990.

The situation is even worse for state legislative races.  There are fewer candidates for legislature on the ballot than at any time since 1986, and possibly even before that.  Data on the number of legislative candidates for years before 1988 is not readily available.

The reason for fewer candidates for both types of office is that there are fewer minor party and independent candidates.  The number of Democratic and Republican candidates this year is fairly ordinary.  For U.S. House, this year there are 419 seats with a Republican, and 416 seats with a Democrat.  There are 436 seats, counting Delegate from the District of Columbia.   Each of the major parties always contests at least 380 seats.

Continue reading →

New Jersey Lawsuit Over Fusion Ban Finally Gets a Court Hearing

Posted on by November 29, 2024
4

The New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, will hear In re Tom Malinowski on Tuesday, December 10, in Trenton. The case had been filed in 2023, had been transferred to the Appellate Division, and had been dormant ever since. The plaintiffs are challenging the ban on two parties jointly nominating the same candidate. Mercer County, A-3542-21T2.

Georgia Secretary of State Releases Vote Totals for Declared Write-in Candidates

Posted on by November 28, 2024
24

The Georgia Secretary of State has released write-in totals for the declared write-in candidates. See them here.

For president, the only candidates who had write-in status, and who were on the ballot in at least one state, were Peter Sonski of the American Solidarity Party, independent candidate Shiva Ayyadurai, and independent Jay Bowman. Sonski got 730 write-ins, Ayyadurai got 37, and Bowman got 30.

In 2020, the American Solidarity Party presidential candidate had received 701 write-ins in Georgia.

Claudia De la Cruz and Cornel West were not able to be declared write-in candidates, because by the time they were disqualified, it was too late to file as a declared write-in. They were both on the ballot but signs at the polling places announced that their votes won’t be counted.

For U.S. House, 11th district, write-in candidate Tracy Verhoeven got 10,226 write-ins, which was about 2.5% of the total. She had been endorsed by the Democratic Party after the party’s primary had been won by a candidate who did not support Democratic Party stances on issues. Thanks to Kyle Bennett for the link.

Nebraska State Trial Court Says Medical Marijuana Legalization Petitions Were Valid

Posted on by November 27, 2024
18

On November 26, a Nebraska state trial court ruled that two initiatives concerning medical marijuana had enough valid signatures. Kuehn v Evnen, CI24-3244. Here is the 54-page decision.

The two measures had both been on the ballot earlier this month, and both passed overwhelmingly. But a lawsuit claiming that the initiatives didn’t have enough valid signatures had been filed before the election and had continued after the election.

Sponsors had circulated two separate petitions to avoid the charge that the initiative violated the single subject rule. Even so, the challengers argued that one of the initiatives violated the single subject rule, but the judge disagreed with that charge also.

It is peculiar that Secretary of State Bob Evnen had first ruled the two petitions had enough valid signatures, and yet he still joined the lawsuit that argued the petitions didn’t have enough valid signatures.