On February 1, when Delaware’s HB 245 was signed into law, the Green, Constitution, Working Families, and Socialist Workers Parties ceased to be ballot-qualified in Delaware. The law went into effect immediately and set the number of registered voters at approximately 600 members. The old law required approximately 300.

Of course, those parties do have an opportunity to get back on the ballot, by obtaining new registrations between now and August. However, because there is case law that it violates due process for states to increase ballot access requirements in the middle of campaign season, the Delaware Election Commissioner has asked her legal counsel to help her decide whether she should implement the new law immediately, or whether implementation should be postponed until 2011.

On February 11, the Florida Supreme Court issued its opinion in Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections v Browning, SC07-2074. The Court said that if a single county in Florida wants to have a local law saying vote-counting machines must have a paper trail, the county can do that. Earlier, the State Court of Appeals had ruled against Sarasota County, saying the county is not free to ban such machines. But the Supreme Court reversed the lower court.

Proposition 14, on the California June 2010, proposes a top-two open primary. Several county elections officials have recently been asked to estimate whether, if passed, the measure would increase costs to taxpayers. San Diego County estimates an additional cost per election of $.75 per voter, and Sacramento County estimates an additional cost of $1.85 per voter.

One reason the costs will increase is that the counties would still need to print up separate primary ballots, intended only for members of each party, for county central committee elections. Another cost is that the implementing measure requires that each primary ballot have at the top, “Voter-Nominated and Nonpartisan Offices” in 24-point boldface gothic capital type. Then, in smaller type, the ballots must say, “All voters, regardless of the party preference they disclosed upon registration, or refusal to disclose a party preference, may vote for any candidate for a voter-nominated or nonpartisan office. Voter-Nominated Offices. The party preference, if any, designated by a candidate for a voter-nominated office is selected by the candidate and is shown for the information of the voters only. It does not constitute or imply an endorsement of the candidate by the party indicated, and no candidate nominated by the qualified voters for any voter-nominated office shall be deemed to be the officially nominated candidate of any political party. Nonpartisan Offices. A candidate for a nonpartisan office may not designate a party preference on the ballot.”

This verbiage must appear on each ballot card. It is so lengthy, it will require the counties to print more ballot cards than they would have otherwise. Also, each candidate may have next to his or her name, “My party preference is the ____ Party,” as well as the candidate’s occupation (California ballots already show the occupation of each candidate). In some counties these must be printed in multiple languages.