On April 22, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner released a 36-page set of recommendations for changes in Ohio election laws. Included in the set of recommendations is a two-page chapter on ballot access laws for minor political parties. The report recommends a petition of one-fourth of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote to qualify a party. It also recommends a 1% vote test to determine whether a party should remain on the ballot. The vote test would be applied every four years and any statewide office could satisfy the test.

The report recommends a petition deadline of 90 days before the primary (although some of the text seems to contradict that, and seems to recommend a 75-day deadline). This very early deadline would be in early December of the year before the election, in presidential election years. The report suggests keeping a very early deadline, because the Ohio Constitution requires all qualified parties to nominate by primary, and the Ohio primary is in March in presidential years. A footnote in the report says, “There has been some discussion of modifying the Ohio Constitution to allow nomination via convention for minor and intermediate parties. This very significant change in elections procedure requires greater study before the Secretary of State can make a final recommendation for or against altering the Ohio Constitution.”

Fortunately, former Secretary of State Robert Taft, in 1996, established a precedent that a new party that only wants to run a presidential ticket is permitted to file as late as August of election years, a precedent reaffirmed by Secretary Brunner in 2007. The report does not discuss that precedent. One hopes that it would become codified in the election law. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the news.

Currently, one-quarter of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote would be 10,057 signatures. If the 2009-2010 session of the Ohio legislature soon passes a bill implementing these ideas, then that petition requirement would be in force for the 2010 election. However, if the legislature does nothing, or if it does not pass any legislation on this matter until early 2010, then it is likely that the Libertarian, Green, Constitution and Socialist Parties will be on the ballot automatically in 2010. One couldn’t expect these parties to complete a petition of 10,057 signatures for the 2010 election if the law requiring such a petition doesn’t exist until just a few weeks before the deadline. Because the primary in midterm years is in May, the petition deadline recommended by this report for 2010 would be in February 2010.

Missouri SB 569 passed the Senate Finance, Government Organization & Elections Committee on April 15. It makes it easier to qualify initiative petitions. It says that if a registered voter signs an initiative, the signature counts, regardless of any problems involved because the circulator was a person not entitled to be a circulator (Missouri does not permit out-of-state circulators for petitions for new parties).

The philosophy behind this bill is sound, and ought to be embraced by all states. If the signer is entitled to sign a petition, that signature should count, regardless of any characteristics of the circulator. By analogy, votes cast by legally qualified voters ought to count as well, no matter what errors are made by officials at the polling place.

Approximately 10 states don’t even require that petition circulators sign the bottom of the petition, or otherwise identify themselves, and those 10 states seem to have no trouble with that permissive policy.

The Missouri bill makes other changes also, such as legalizing a signature even if the voter signed a petition sheet meant for residents of some other county. However, the petition must clearly indicate the signer’s county of residence. SB 569 is sponsored by Senator Jim Lembke (R-St. Louis). Unfortunately the protections in the bill do not also apply to candidate petitions, or petitions to establish a new party. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.

Other Missouri bills that affect minor parties, independent candidates, or the initiative process, have not made any headway. They include the bill to delete the requirement that a petition to qualify a minor party must include the party’s presidential elector candidates, and the bill to move the independent candidate petition deadline from July to March, and the bills to outlaw paying initiative circulators on a per signature basis, and bills to lower the number of signatures needed for statewide initiatives.

The Libertarian Party of New Jersey intends to nominate a candidate for Governor at a meeting of the executive committee, to be held on April 26. The party will then need 800 valid signatures to get that nominee on the November 2009 ballot.