North Carolina Independent Candidate Ballot Access Cases Are Appealed

Posted on by September 20, 2010
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Two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of North Carolina laws for independent candidates are being appealed.  A notice of appeal to the 4th circuit has been filed in Greene v Bartlett.  This is the case over the procedures for independent candidates for U.S. House.  No independent candidate for that office has ever appeared on a North Carolina goverment-printed ballot, but last month a U.S. District Court upheld the law anyway.

Also, Mark Brody is filing a federal lawsuit in his case.  He was an independent candidate in 2008 for the legislature and he successfully completed the petition to appear on the ballot, which required the signatures of 4% of the registered voters in his district.  He wanted to run again in 2010.  He questions the need to submit another petition in 2010, because in 2008 he polled 30% of the vote in a two-person race.  He had lost a case on the same issue in lower state court earlier this year.  He argues that he already showed he enjoys a modicum of voter support, as shown by the 2008 election results.  He also points out that parties can remain on the ballot if they poll 2% of the vote in the last election.

Socialist Party Files FEC Complaint Over Lack of Objective Criteria for U.S. Senate Debate

Posted on by September 20, 2010
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The Socialist Party is on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Ohio this year.  Its nominee is Dan La Botz.  On September 20, La Botz filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission against the eight newspapers who are sponsoring three televised debates for the Democratic and Republican nominees for U.S. Senate.  The complaint points out that the debate sponsors have set no objective criteria on who should be admitted to these debates.

The debate sponsors had told La Botz, “The Ohio News Organization generally follows the structure used by the Commission on Presidential Debates, which allows for only the major-party candidates to debate.”  This statement, of course, is inaccurate.  The Commission on Presidential Debates has objective but harsh criteria; any candidate who is at 15% in the polls is invited into their debates.  By contrast, the Ohio newspaper consortium has no criteria except that they only want the two major party candidates in their debate.  Because the debate is sponsored by corporations, the complaint charges that these corporations are making an illegal campaign donation to the Democratic and Republican nominees.

The Ohio U.S. Senate race this year has five candidates on the ballot.  The other candidates are the Constitution Party nominee and an independent candidate.

New Filings in Senator Burris’s Pending U.S. Supreme Court Lawsuit on Special Election

Posted on by September 19, 2010
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The U.S. Supreme Court has several new documents in Burris v Judge, the case over whether it was proper for a U.S. District Court Judge in Illinois to order that the only people who could run in the special election for U.S. Senate in Illinois are the people who were already on the ballot in the regular election.  See this story on Scotusblog.  The appellees have already filed responses in the U.S. Supreme Court, and now Burris has submitted a petition for cert in addition to his original request for injunctive relief.  Thanks to Thomas Jones for the link.

Chris Daggett, Prominent Independent Candidate for New Jersey Governor in 2009, Drops Lawsuit Over Ballot Design

Posted on by September 19, 2010
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Most counties in New Jersey squeeze all minor party and independent candidates into a single column, headed “Nomination by Petition”, whereas Democratic and Republican nominees each have their own party column.  Because New Jersey has easy ballot access, there are usually at least seven or eight candidates on the ballot for President, Governor and U.S. Senator.  Many voters probably never even see the names of minor party and independent candidates, because of their awkward spot on the ballot.

Chris Daggett, an independent candidate for Governor in 2009, attracted a great deal of support, and he was the first non-major party nominee to poll over 5% of the vote for New Jersey Governor since 1913.  He had filed a lawsuit in state court on September 18, 2009, alleging that the unequal ballot format is unconstitutional.  Because he filed the case so late, he did not receive injunctive relief.  However, he had intended to keep the lawsuit alive after the election, to win declaratory judgment, which would have been very helpful in the future.  Unfortunately, he has dropped his lawsuit.  The case was closed back on June 22, 2010.  It was Olson v Corzine, Morris County, L30-22-09.