Illinois Bill for a Top-Two System

Posted on by February 28, 2014
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Illinois Representative Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago) has introduced HB 5913, which would establish a top-two primary in Illinois. The bill, as introduced, seems to include the presidential primary. If it does, then in November 2008, the only two presidential candidates who would have been on the ballot would have been Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Illinois already has an open primary, and any voter was free to choose either the Democratic, Republican, or Green primary ballot in Illinois in 2008. Obama received 1,318,234 votes; Clinton received 667,930; John McCain placed third with 426,777 votes.

Illinois has the earliest primary (for congress and state office) of any state except Texas. Candidates in Illinois primaries for 2014 were required to have filed on December 2, 2013. If Illinois had a top-two system, all routes to the November 2014 ballot would be closed off in early December 2013 (except primary write-in candidates could file a declaration of write-in candidacy in January 2014). Under current law, independent candidates and the nominees of unqualified parties can petition onto the November 2014 ballot by June 23, 2014, but that route would be blocked off if HB 5913 passed.

HB 5913 appears to prohibit counting write-in votes in November. It says no candidate can be certified for the November election except the two who came in first and second in the March primary. So even though the bill does not delete write-in space from the November ballot, it appears to block anyone from filing as a declared write-in for November.

February 2014 Ballot Access News Print Edition

Posted on by February 28, 2014
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Ballot Access News
February 1, 2014 – Volume 29, Number 9

This issue was printed on white paper.

Table of Contents

  1. ELEVENTH CIRCUIT DECISION WILL HELP BALLOT ACCESS IN GEORGIA AND ALABAMA
  2. OHIO VICTORY
  3. COLORADO VICTORY
  4. MICHIGAN SOCIALIST PARTY WINS PARTIAL PROCEDURAL VICTORY
  5. SUPREME COURT ELECTION LAW NEWS
  6. ALABAMA TRIES TO DERAIL BALLOT ACCESS LAWSUIT
  7. NORTH CAROLINA US HOUSE SEAT TO REMAIN VACANT ALL YEAR
  8. 2012 ELECTION RETURNS BOOK PUBLISHED
  9. CONGRESS
  10. BALLOT ACCESS BILLS
  11. NEW MEXICO SUPREME COURT WON’T HEAR BALLOT ACCESS CASE
  12. NUMBER OF SIGNATURES FOR INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE FOR U.S. HOUSE IN 2014
  13. 2014 PETITIONING FOR STATEWIDE OFFICE
  14. GARY JOHNSON MUST RE-FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST DEBATES COMMISSION
  15. GALLUP FINDS ONLY 51% OF PUBLIC IDENTIFIES WITH MAJOR PARTIES
  16. NADER WITHDRAWS $1,100,000 FROM BANK THAT HELPED HIS BALLOT ACCESS CHALLENGERS
  17. 1787 PARTY WILL PETITION IN TEXAS
  18. TEXAS DEMOCRATS HELP GREEN AND LIBERTARIAN PARTIES
  19. SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

Fourth Circuit Upholds North Carolina’s May 17 Petition Deadline for Newly-Qualifying Parties

Posted on by February 27, 2014
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On February 27, the Fourth Circuit upheld North Carolina’s May 17 petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. The case, Pisano v Strach, 13-1368, had been filed by the Green and Constitution Parties. The decision is 25 pages, but the only state interest it mentions is that the state needs time to check the petition. This ignores the fact that North Carolina requires just as many signatures for a statewide independent candidate, yet the independent candidate petition deadline is June 12. The decision does not mention the independent candidate petition deadline.

The decision acknowledges that in 1988, the North Carolina State Board of Elections waived the petition deadline for the New Alliance Party, and gave it until July finish its petition. But the decision says, “This letter has no bearing on our resolution of this case.” Obviously, a logical inference from the 1988 incident is that the state can cope with a July deadline.

The decision stresses that in other lawsuits, when May and June petitions were struck down, generally that state had a late primary. By contrast, the North Carolina 2012 primary was May 8. The decision says that petitioning groups were therefore free to have petitioned at the polls on primary day. The decision also stresses that eight successful petitions were submitted in North Carolina in the period 1996 through 2011: Libertarian petitions in 1996, 1998, 2002, and 2008; Reform Party petitions in 1996 and 2000; a Natural Law Petition in 1996; and an Americans Elect petition in 2011. The decision acknowledges that in 2000, a U.S. District Court in South Dakota struck down that state’s independent presidential petition deadline of June, even though the South Dakota primary was also in June, but the Fourth Circuit says it finds the South Dakota decision unpersuasive.

The decision says the requirement that a party collect 89,366 valid signatures by May 17 is “not severe.” One reason the court can get away with saying this is that the lower court had refused to allow discovery. Of the 8 successful petitions in the past, three were in 1996, when the petition requirement was 51,904, a significantly lower number than 89,366.

Arkansas Representative Fred Smith, Elected as a Green Party Nominee in 2012, Files for Re-Election as a Democrat

Posted on by February 26, 2014
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Fred Smith, an Arkansas state legislator elected as a Green in 2012, has filed for re-election as a Democrat. This news is not especially surprising, because even in 2012, Smith’s association with the Green Party was a matter of convenience to him. He was barred from the Democratic primary, but the Green Party then offered to nominate him. See this story.