Two Ballot Access Court Hearings on June 17 Draw Little Press Coverage

Posted on by June 18, 2010
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On Thursday, June 17, two important ballot access lawsuits were argued in two different federal courts.

In U.S. District Court in Arkansas, Judge Price Marshall heard Green Party of Arkansas v Daniels. See this story. The story is not is as well-written as it could be. The lawsuit concerns the state’s rules on how a party retains its spot on the ballot, not on how it gets on the ballot. This is a tough case to win, because there is no federal court precedent from any state striking down the requirements for a party to retain its spot on the ballot. A somewhat similar case is pending for the New Mexico Green Party.

Also on June 17, the 9th circuit, meeting in Honolulu, heard Ralph Nader’s case from 2004 that challenges the number of signatures for an independent presidential candidate, which is six times as many signatures as are required for a party to get itself on the ballot. Nader argues that there is no rational reason to make ballot access for a single independent candidate more difficult than for a new party. In Hawaii, when a new party qualifies, the state must print up a primary ballot for it and the party is easily able to run for many partisan offices. If the chief rationale for ballot access restrictions is to keep ballots from being too crowded, the Hawaii policy makes no sense.

Judge Richard Clifton seemed to feel that if a state wants to encourage people to form parties instead of becoming independent candidates, a state may legitimately do that. The other two judges, Betty Fletcher and Harry Pregerson, asked few questions and didn’t seem especially interested in the case. The case is Nader v Cronin, 08-16444. No newspaper seems to have covered the hearing.

Three Interesting Election Law Bills to be Heard in California Assembly Elections Committee on June 22

Posted on by June 18, 2010
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The California Assembly Elections Committee meets on Tuesday, June 22, at 1:30 p.m. It will hear SB 1140, to provide for same-day voter registration, but only in a few locations in each county.

The Committee will also hear SB 1203, to require paid petition circulators to wear badges that say in large print that the circulator is being paid, and what county the circulator is registered in. If the circulator is not registered, it must say that the circulator is not registered. The bill doesn’t seem to take cognizance of the fact that the 9th circuit ruled in 2008 that states can’t bar out-of-state circulators, and the circulator might be someone registered in another state.

The Committee will also hear SB 1202, which says that the Voters Pamphlet should contain, for each statewide ballot measure, the names of the five individuals or organizations which have contributed the most money in favor, as well as in opposition, to that ballot measure. Of course the information will not be up-to-date, because the Pamphlet must be printed several months before the election.

All three of these bills have already passed the State Senate.

Arkansas Greens Submit 14,300 Signatures

Posted on by June 17, 2010
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On June 17, the Arkansas Green Party submitted 14,300 signatures on a petition to place the party back on the ballot. 10,000 are required. If the petition is approved, that will be the third election year in a row in which the Green Party has completed this petition. The only other party that has ever qualified by petition in Arkansas is the Reform Party, which completed the petition once, in 1996.

Before 1971, Arkansas allowed any party to be on the ballot with no petition.

Arkansas allows parties to be on the ballot for President only, with a petition of 1,000 signatures, and many parties have completed that petition. Arkansas is the only state in which no Libertarian Party member has ever been on the ballot for partisan office other than President.

Florida Holding First Primary in History for a Party Other than Democrats and Republicans

Posted on by June 17, 2010
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Florida holds primaries this year on August 24. In the 33rd State House district, near Orlando, there will be a Libertarian Party primary. This will be the first government-sponsored primary for any party in Florida history, other than for Democratic and Republican Party primaries. See this story. The two candidates are Franklin Perez and Ellen Paul.

Until 2007, Florida only held primaries for parties with registration greater than 5% of the state total. In 2007, the legislature changed the law and said all qualified parties should nominate by primary. However, Florida does not actually hold a primary for any party unless it has a contest. Florida doesn’t permit write-ins in partisan primaries, and even though Florida has 35 qualified parties, none of them ever had a contested nomination contest until this year, in the Libertarian Party, in that one state House district.

Government-administered primaries began in Florida in 1913. The law said only parties that had polled at least 5% of the vote in the last election could have a primary. The Progressive Party and the Socialist Party were eligible for primaries in 1914, but probably they didn’t actually have primaries because they had no contests for any nomination. In 1921 the law was changed to say that only parties that had polled 30% of the vote in the last election could have primaries. In 1939 the law was changed to eliminate the vote test, and to say primaries were only for parties that had registration of 5%, the law that was in effect until 2007.

Nancy Lord Files Lawsuit Over Possible Ballot-Counting Errors

Posted on by June 17, 2010
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On June 14, Nancy Lord filed a lawsuit to overturn the results of the Nye County Republican Party primary for District Attorney. See this story. The hearing will be Tuesday, June 22. The judge temporarily put all election records into safekeeping.

Lord was the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential nominee in 1992. The returns show she lost the primary by 86 votes. She placed second in a five-candidate field.