California Governor Signs Bill to Let Voters Register on Election Day

Posted on by September 24, 2012
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On September 24, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1436, to let voters register at the polls on election day. The bill won’t take effect until either 2014 or 2015. Voters would need to visit a county elections office on election day to register; they could not do so at the neighborhood polls.

California becomes the first large-population state to permit same-day voter registration. Governor Brown also signed many other election law bills on September 24. Here is a list. He has not acted yet on AB 145, which makes it illegal for registration-drive organizations to pay workers on a per-registration card basis. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news about AB 1436.

Connecticut Supreme Court Still Hasn’t Decided Which Party Should be Listed First on the Ballot

Posted on by September 24, 2012
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At the close of normal business hours in Connecticut, on Monday, September 24, the Connecticut Supreme Court still hasn’t issued any order in Republican Party of Connecticut v Merrill, SC 19010. The hearing was on September 12. It is very odd that the Court hasn’t at least issued a brief order, so that the state can start printing ballots. Sometimes Courts release their conclusion and later they explain why. For example, the Arizona Supreme Court issued its conclusion a few weeks ago that the top-two open primary initiative doesn’t violate the single subject rule, but the Arizona court still hasn’t explained its reasoning.

The issue in the Connecticut case is which party should be listed first on the ballot. Connecticut should consider the idea of giving each candidate and/or each party an equal opportunity to be listed first on the ballot, a policy followed by approximately one-third of the states. The order could be determined either by a random drawing, or by a policy of rotation.

What Percentage of the Voters Will See Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, and Virgil Goode on their Ballots?

Posted on by September 24, 2012
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No one can know exactly how many voters will vote in each state on November 6, 2012. But if one uses the November 4, 2008 election data to estimate how many voters will vote in each state, one can calculate the percentage of voters who will see various presidential candidates on their ballots.

For Gary Johnson (assuming he is on in Pennsylvania, which is likely) the figure will be 95.08%. For Jill Stein, it is 83.10%. For Virgil Goode, it is 49.91%. Corresponding data for all presidential candidates will be in the October 1, 2012 printed Ballot Access News.

The Mystery of Why the New York Independence Party Nominated No one for President

Posted on by September 24, 2012
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Until more information appears, the question of why the New York Independence Party chose no presidential nominee for the first time will go unanswered. The New York State Board of Elections had announced that ballot-qualified parties must choose their presidential nominees by September 10. Nevertheless, the New York Independence Party state committee went ahead with a meeting on September 22, and on the agenda for that meeting was the choice of a presidential nominee.

At the Albany meeting, State Chair Frank McKay proposed a resolution that the party not nominate any candidate for President, and that resolution passed. Nothing was said at the meeting, apparently, that at that point it was too late to choose a nominee. See this somewhat more detailed description of the meeting by Michael Drucker, a long-time officer in that party.

Enid News Criticizes Oklahoma’s Ballot Access Laws

Posted on by September 24, 2012
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The Enid News has this editorial, pointing out that Oklahoma voters can only vote this year for President Obama or Mitt Romney for President. This editorial is a welcome sign that at least some Oklahoma newspapers are noticing the Oklahoma ballot access problem for President. The editorial could have said much more. It could have said that Oklahoma is the only state in which only two choices are on the ballot for President. It could have mentioned that Oklahoma is one of only five states that bans all write-in votes in all elections.

Unfortunately, the largest newspaper in Oklahoma, the Oklahoman, recently editorialized against letting Americans Elect (a ballot-qualified party in Oklahoma) place a presidential nominee on the ballot. And the Tulsa daily newspaper never seems to mention ballot access.