Hawaii State Senator Les Ihara has introduced SB 223, to permit write-in voting in all Hawaii elections, primaries and general elections alike. Senator Ihara has been in the State Senate since 1994, and has introduced similar bills many times in the past. He is Majority Policy Leader in the State Senate.
Hawaii has never permitted write-in voting. The preamble to SB 223 points out that in 2012, as in many past elections, Hawaii has had the lowest voter turnout of any state.
Writer Mark Vanhoenacker, who lives in New York state, has this interesting article in Slate about U.S. ballot design, and why so many U.S. ballots are confusing. He compares some U.S. ballots with European ballots, and a sidebar lets readers look at ballots from some other countries.
Many states do have clear ballots. It happens that New York and New Jersey have the poorest ballot design of any states, at least relative to the part of ballots that includes candidates. Thanks to ElectionUpdates for the link.
William M. Daley, President Obama’s chief of staff during 2011, and a banker and attorney, said last week that a top-two primary might be good for Illinois. See this story. Daley has never been elected to public office, but he is the younger brother of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, and son of earlier legendary Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.
William M. Daley might run for Governor of Illinois in 2014, but if he does, he will probably be forced to run against the incumbent Demoratic Governor, Pat Quinn, who seems to want to run for another term.
This analysis in the Chicago NBC-TV station web page points out that the version of top-two that Daley seems to favor would not be legal under federal law. Daley seemed to propose a system in which, if anyone gets 50% of the vote in the March primary, that person is elected. But the analysis correctly points out that the U.S. Supreme Court already ruled in 1997 in Foster v Love that states must hold congressional elections in all districts in November of even-numbered years. Thanks to Nancy Hanks for the link to the NBC story.
Georgia hasn’t had any party (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties) on the ballot, with its party label, in a regularly-scheduled U.S. House election, since 1942. But all other states have had such minor party candidates on the ballot for U.S. House during the 21st century, if the year 2000 is deemed to be in the 21st century.
The last minor party on the ballot for U.S. House in Georgia was the Independent Democratic Party, which was on the Georgia ballot in 1940, 1942, and 1944. Back then, Georgia permitted two parties to jointly nominate the same candidates. The Independent Democratic Party was a conservative party, and it cross-endorsed the Republican presidential elector candidates in Georgia in 1940 and 1944, but it also ran its own nominees for other partisan office, including U.S. House in both 1940 and 1942. Before 1943, Georgia let any party on the general election ballot with no petition. Starting in 1943, Georgia required a petition signed by 5% of the registered voters, unless the party had polled at least 5% for the same office in the previous election. The Independent Democratic Party was on the ballot automatically in 1944 because it had polled more than 5% for President (for Wendell Willkie) in 1940.
Georgia’s imposition of the 5% petition has been fatal for minor party candidates for U.S. House, in the 70 years that requirement has existed. Under Williams v Rhodes, which struck down Ohio’s old ballot access law in 1968 because it hadn’t been used successfully for five presidential elections in a row, the Georgia requirement ought to be held unconstitutional, because 35 elections have been held and it has never been used for U.S. House. The 5% standard for statewide office was lowered in 1979 and again in 1986, but the Georgia legislature has never amended it for U.S. House.
Two Colorado legislators, Senator David Balmer (R-Centennial) and Representative Jonathan Singer (D-Longmont) have introduced SB 65. It allows cities and counties to use Approval Voting, if the election is non-partisan. Here is the text of the bill. Approval Voting allows a voter to vote for as many candidates as he or she wishes, even though only one is to be elected. The candidate with the most votes wins. Thanks to Frank Atwood for this news.
