Oklahoma Representative Charles Key Will Again Introduce Ballot Access Reform

Posted on by December 16, 2010
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Oklahoma Representative Charles Key will again introduce a bill to lower the number of signatures for a party to appear on the ballot.  In the 2009 session, the Keys bill passed both houses of the legislature, but because each house passed a different version, and because the conference committee never reconciled the two versions, the bill did not pass.

The existing law, which requires a petition signed by voters equal in number to 5% of the last vote cast, is so severe, no one has completed it since 2000.  As a result, no voter in Oklahoma has been allowed to vote for any presidential candidate in November, other than the Democratic and Republican nominees, since 2000.  Oklahoma does not permit write-in votes.  The independent presidential petition procedure is also very harsh and has not been used since 1992.

Representative Key is a Republican from the Oklahoma City area, and is a committee chairman.  The 2011-2012 session of the legislature is the last session in which Key may sit, due to Oklahoma’s legislative term limits law.

The Two Best Minor Party Showings in the Deep South for U.S. Senate, in all History, are Green Party Showings

Posted on by December 15, 2010
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The United States has been electing U.S. Senators by popular vote starting in 1914.  In almost a century of U.S. Senate elections, there are only two instances in the Deep South when any minor party ever polled as much as 5% for U.S. Senate.  Both of them were recent showings by the Green Party:  the 9.21% showing by Tom Clement in South Carolina in 2010, and the 20.47% showing by Rebekah Kennedy in Arkansas in 2008.

However, there are equivalent minor party showings from the past from Southern states that aren’t considered “Deep South”, Florida, Oklahoma and Virginia.  In Florida in 1974, the American Party polled 15.70% for U.S. Senate.  In Virginia in 1994, the Reform Party polled 11.45% for Senate.  In Oklahoma in 1914, the Socialist Party polled 20.99% for Senate.  And in Virginia in 1952, the Socialist Party polled 12.57% for Senate.

California Supreme Court Won't Hear Case Challenging Party Label Discrimination

Posted on by December 15, 2010
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On December 15, the California Supreme Court declined to hear Field v Bowen, the case that challenges the new California law that says some candidates, but not others, may have a party label on the ballot.  The case has not yet received any ruling from the State Court of Appeals, and the next round of briefs in the case will be in the Appeals Court.  In the appeals court, another issue (which was not before the Supreme Court) is whether write-in votes should be counted in November for Congress and state office.  The new law says that write-ins should not be counted, but leaves write-in space on the ballot and also leaves in place procedures for candidates to file as declared write-in candidates.  See this story in the Sacramento Bee.

California Supreme Court Won’t Hear Case Challenging Party Label Discrimination

Posted on by December 15, 2010
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On December 15, the California Supreme Court declined to hear Field v Bowen, the case that challenges the new California law that says some candidates, but not others, may have a party label on the ballot.  The case has not yet received any ruling from the State Court of Appeals, and the next round of briefs in the case will be in the Appeals Court.  In the appeals court, another issue (which was not before the Supreme Court) is whether write-in votes should be counted in November for Congress and state office.  The new law says that write-ins should not be counted, but leaves write-in space on the ballot and also leaves in place procedures for candidates to file as declared write-in candidates.  See this story in the Sacramento Bee.