On August 9, the 8th circuit upheld the Arkansas vote test for a party to remain on the ballot. The decision is Green Party of Arkansas v Martin, 10-3106. Arkansas requires a party to poll 3% for the office at the top of the ballot in each election, in order to stay on the ballot (i.e., 3% for President in presidential years, and 3% for Governor in midterm years).
The outcome was not too surprising. No federal court has ever struck down any state’s vote test for remaining on the ballot. Generally federal courts feel that if the requirements to get a newly-qualifying party on the ballot are reasonable, states are free to dump them off the ballot after any particular election. The only winning case on this issue came in 1983 from the Alaska Supreme Court, which in Vogler v Miller struck down the old law requiring a party to poll 10% for Governor to remain on the ballot.
The Arkansas decision says “at least sixteen states” have vote tests that relate to a specific office, and footnote eleven lists them. The statement and the footnote are in error; Arizona, Alaska, Maryland and Wyoming do not belong on the list. Alaska, Arizona. and Maryland have alternate registration tests, and Wyoming permits the vote test to be satisfied by any of three different statewide offices.
The Green Party expects to start its petition for 2012 ballot access after Labor Day. It must get 10,000 valid signatures within the 90-day window that it chooses for itself, so the signatures will be due in early December 2011.
