Citizen Outreach, Hoping to Make Nevada Ballot Access More Difficult, Appeals to Nevada Supreme Court

Posted on by September 11, 2010
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On September 10, Citizen Outreach appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court, in its lawsuit that argues that Nevada ballot access law really requires one set of petitions in March, and another hefty petition in June.  Citizen Outreach is a conservative organization that says it only wants to remove Jon Ashjian from the Nevada ballot.  For earlier coverage on this case, see here.  If Citizen Outreach were successful, the Green Party candidate for Governor this year would also be removed from the ballot.

There is a logical problem with Citizen Outreach’s theory.  Nevada’s April petition deadline for new parties was held unconstitutional in 1986 in Libertarian Party of Nevada v Swackhamer.  If Citizens Outreach were correct, and Nevada requires petitions in March as well as in June, then Nevada law would have the same flaw all over again that caused the state to lose the 1986 ballot access case.

Lubbock, Texas Newspaper Highlights Lack of Choices on Texas Ballot for Legislature

Posted on by September 11, 2010
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The Lubbock, Texas Avalanche-Journal has this story, drawing attention to the small number of candidates on the November 2010 Texas ballot for state legislature.

Sixteen seats are up in the State Senate.  Democrats have candidates in eight of them, and Libertarians are also running in eight State Senate races.  There are no independent candidates for the State Senate on the ballot, and no Green Party nominees for State Senate.  Republicans have nominees in all 16 races.

All 150 seats are up in the State House of Representatives.  Democrats aren’t running anyone in 55 of the seats, and Republicans aren’t running anyone in 38 of the seats.  This means that in 93 races out of 150, there is no Republican-Democratic contest.  The Libertarian Party has 50 candidates for State House, and the Greens have two.  Also there are 2 independent candidates for State House.

The article mentions that the petition drive to put the Green Party on the ballot cost over $500,000, yet doesn’t make the obvious conclusion that if lack of choices is a problem, it is obvious that the ballot access laws are too stringent.  The article is incorrect to say that no minor party has ever won a seat in the Texas legislature.  Minor parties elected Texas state legislators in the past, before any petition was required to place any party on the ballot.  In 1920 the American Party elected four state representatives.  In each election 1892 through 1902, the Peoples Party elected state legislators.  In 1894, 22 Peoples Party members were elected to the House.  A Prohibition Party member was elected to the House in 1886, and Greenback Party members were elected in 1878 and 1880.  The American “Know-Nothing” Party elected Texas legislators in 1855 and 1857.

U.S. District Court Upholds Post Office Ban on Petitioning on Interior Postal Sidewalks

Posted on by September 10, 2010
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On September 8, U.S. District Court Judge Richard W. Roberts upheld a post office regulation that bans petitioning on postal sidewalks if the sidewalks are not parallel to, or not seemingly part of, sidewalks that run along streets.  The decision thus upholds the ban on sidewalks that run from the street to the post office.  Here is the 30-page decision.

This case was filed in 2000, and Judge Roberts had upheld the ban on all postal sidewalks in 2003.  But in 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals had said that sidewalks parallel to streets cannot be closed to petitioning, and had sent the case back for more proceedings on interior sidewalks.  Judge Roberts had then suggested that both sides cooperate to do research into the extent to which First Amendment activity is carried out on interior postal sidewalks.  That research tended to show that there is just as much such activity on interior postal sidewalks as on postal sidewalks that are parallel to the street.  But, in the 2010 opinion that just came out, the decision downplays that research, finding that it is statistically flawed.

One reads the decision, looking for a good reason for the postal regulation, and one doesn’t find such a reason.  The Institute and Referendum Institute, and the other plaintiffs, will now appeal again.  The case is Initiative & Referendum Institute v U.S. Postal Service, 00-1246.

Three Arizona Green Nominees Withdraw

Posted on by September 10, 2010
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On September 10, three of the Green Party nominees in Arizona who were considered “outsiders” by party leaders withdrew, even though a court ruled yesterday that they should be on the ballot.  See this story.  Ironically, some or all of the three may be on the ballot anyway, because ballots in some jurisdictions had already been printed before they withdrew.

Another two of these nominees had already withdrawn a few days before the lawsuit filed by party leaders had been heard, so those two had been dismissed from the lawsuit.

The remaining “outsider” candidates who will be on the ballot, even though the party leadership rejected them, are:  (1) Richard Grayson, for US House, 6th district, but he was not recruited by any Republican and has insisted that he should not have been rejected by the party leadership.  He got 6 write-ins in the Green Party primary.  (2) Anthony Goshorn, for State Senate 17th district.  He got 4 write-ins.  (3) Andrew Blischak, State Rep, 20th district.  He got 1 write-in.  (4) Thomas Meadows, for Treasurer.  He got 60 write-ins.  (5) Theodore Gomez, Corporation Commissioner.  He got 39 write-ins.  (6) Benjamin Pearcy, Corporation Commissioner.  He got 36 write-ins.  Arizona is electing two Corporation Commissioners this year.

Oregon Working Families Party Runs Own Member for U.S. Senate

Posted on by September 10, 2010
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The Oregon Working Families Party is running a member of that party for U.S. Senate.  He is Bruce Cronk.  He will be opposing incumbent U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat.  This is the first time the Working Families Party in any state has ever run a candidate for either Governor or U.S. Senator who is not simultaneously the Democratic Party nominee.  The Working Families Party is currently on the ballot in six states, and in the recent past was also on in Massachusetts.  Here is Cronk’s web page.