On January 15, a new book titled, “Does the “U.S. Two-Party System Still Work?” will be published by Greenhaven Press. It is a collection of 24 short essays by various authors. The lead author is Noah Berlatsky, but he didn’t write any of the content; he collected the essays. The paperback is only 80 pages. BAN doesn’t know yet the identity of any of the authors of the essays. The paperback will be $21.85.

As the year 2010 commences, Ballot Access News is 25 years old. I wish to thank everyone who reads Ballot Access News, and especially to thank those of you who post comments. As far as I know, most or all of the other election law blogs don’t have a “Comment” feature. Or, if they do have such a feature, it seems difficult to use and few people take advantage of it. Your comments help educate me.

I also want to thank some attorneys who, for years, have done ballot access cases in multiple states during the last five years for little or no guaranteed compensation. Thank you, Bryan Sells of the ACLU and all the other ACLU attorneys who have worked on ballot access cases and other cases involving minor parties and independent candidates. Thank you to the Bernhoft law firm of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, including Robert Bernhoft, Dan Treuden and Bob Barnes. Thank you, Oliver Hall of Washington, D.C. Thank you, law Professor Mark Brown of Columbus, Ohio. Thank you, Gary Sinawski, and thank you Jim Linger, both of whom have been doing this good work since the early 1980’s. Thank you, law professor Bob Bastress of Morgantown, West Virginia, not only for doing litigation in West Virginia and North Carolina but for being a skillful lobbyist.

Also, thanks to Christina Tobin, of Mill Valley, California, who in 2009 started building Free & Equal, a group with the potential to increase the clout of the movement for fairer election laws for political minorities. Thanks to the other employees and volunteers of Free & Equal.

Thank you, all members of the COFOE (Coalition for Free & Open Elections) Board, especially those of you who have served for ten years or longer, including Alice Kelsey, who has served as COFOE Treasurer since the early 1990’s. The other ten-year-plus veterans are Harry Kresky, who lets us use his law office; Tom McLaughlin; and Jim Clymer. COFOE, like Ballot Access News, turns 25 years old this year.

Thank you, Ron Paul, Tim Penny, and John Conyers, the three members of the U.S. House (past or present) who have introduced bills to outlaw restrictive ballot access laws in federal elections. Special thanks to Ron Paul, who has introduced that bill more times than anyone else, and who also gave the largest donation that Ballot Access News has ever received. Ron Paul is also the only member of Congress who ever succeeded in getting a vote on the House floor on the ballot access bill. That was in 1998, and it received 62 votes.

Thank you to Tim Brace, Chet Chin, for decades of help with the printed newsletter. And, thanks to Eric Garris, my webmaster. Without him, there would only be a Ballot Access News printed newsletter; the web page wouldn’t exist without him. Also thanks to Michael Ravnitzky, for making it possible for many of the older printed issues to be available on this web page. Thank you, Tim Thornburn and David Johnson, for help with my computer. Thank you, Jerry Kunz, my spouse and the person who has kept me sane and functional for 40 years now.

Thanks to Independent Political Report, the Election Law Blog, Votelaw Blog, and How Appealing, for being prime sources of news. Thank you to Rick Hasen and Dan Lowenstein for creating and maintaining the Election Law Journal. Thank you to many others who supply me with news. We all want a better election system, so even when we disagree, we have that in common with each other.