The editor of Ballot Access News has just sent a fax to South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, asking him to veto H.3746, which passed the legislature on June 3.
The fax points out that South Carolina procedures for independent candidates are already so difficult, that in the entire history of the existing law, no one has ever qualified in South Carolina as an independent candidate for either house of U.S. Congress, or for Governor. 10,000 signatures are required for each of those offices.
H.3746 shrinks the available time available for completing the petition, requires each petition sheet to be notarized (which costs a lot of money), requires independent candidates to submit a declaration of candidacy in early June, and says newly-registered voters can’t sign for independent candidates during the last 30 days of the petitioning period.
The declaration of candidacy is probably unconstitutional as to presidential independent candidates. The provision not permitting newly-registered voters to sign during the last 30 days of the petition drive probably violates Socialist Workers Party v Rockefeller, 314 F.Supp 984 (S.D.N.Y. 1970), a decision that the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed, 400 U.S. 806 (1970). See the part on page 992. That part of the bill also seems to violate Bush v Gore, 531 U.S. 98 (2000), which says that the government must treat all voters equally.
Governor Sanford’s postal address is PO Box 12267, Columbia SC 29211. His fax is 803-734-5167.
At least eight times in the past twenty years, Governors have vetoed restrictive ballot access bills. They include:
1. Oregon Governor Barbara Roberts vetoed SB 286A in 1991. It would have barred qualified minor parties from nominating anyone who hadn’t been a member of that party for a year.
2. Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus vetoed HB 320 in 1993. It moved the petition deadline for independent candidates from August to March.
3. California Governor Pete Wilson vetoed AB 2218 in 1994. It would have denied declared write-in candidates the ability to have their votes counted.
4. Arizona Governor Fife Symington vetoed SB 1138 in 1995. It would have vastly increased the number of write-ins needed for a candidate to be nominated in his or her own party’s primary.
5. Georgia Governor Zell Miller vetoed SB 148 in 1995. It would have moved the petition deadline for minor party and independent candidates from July to May.
6. Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge vetoed SB 200 in 1997. It would have quadrupled the number of signatures needed for minor party and independent candidates.
7. New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson vetoed HB 865 in 1997. It would have outlawed write-in votes.
8. Illinois Governor Pat Quinn vetoed HB 723 in 2009. It made it much more difficult for a ballot-qualified party to nominate someone after the party primary was over. However, the legislature overrode his veto.
