Faye Coffield, who recently lost her ballot case case in the 11th circuit, has decided to ask for U.S. Supreme Court review. The “question presented” (every cert petition begins with a single sentence, telling the Court the “question presented”) may be, “Does the U.S. Constitution protect the ability of minor party and independent candidates to run for the U.S. House of Representatives?”” Georgia has kept all minor party and independent candidates off the ballot for U.S. House, in regularly-scheduled elections, since 1964.
Georgia has less stringent procedures for special elections. In the context above, “regularly-scheduled” means an election held in the first week of November in even-numbered years.
Billy McKinney, Cynthia McKinney’s father, did appear on a Georgia ballot in 1982 for U.S. House of Representatives, but his election was not held on the normal federal election day, and he was not required to comply with the requirements that exist in regularly-scheduled elections.
The Coalition for Free & Open Elections (COFOE) has been helping pay the expenses of the Coffield case so far, and the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court will probably cost $2,000. Donations to COFOE for this purpose are needed very badly. Checks can be made out to COFOE and sent to PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147. People who contribute at least $25 receive a free subscription to Ballot Access News for a year.
The only other states that have had a Democratic-Republican ballot monopoly in U.S. House elections for a period as long as Georgia have been Louisiana (1918-1970), Florida (1926-1972), and North Carolina (1902-1946). Except for Georgia, all states have had minor party or independent candidates, or both, on the ballot for U.S. House of Representatives this decade.
