On January 15, the Ohio Secretary of State ruled that parties that were ballot-qualified during 2008 will also be considered ballot-qualified for 2009 as well. Ohio has no regularly-scheduled partisan elections for federal or state office in 2009. But some municipalities hold partisan elections during 2009.
The Peace and Freedom Party has been on the ballot in California for all elections 1968 through 2008, except that it was off in 2000 and 2002. It has always run candidates for the legislature when it has been on the ballot.
In 2008, its Assembly candidates polled 8.29% in the races in which it ran candidates. This is easily the best percentage for Assembly in the party’s history. The previous high for Assembly for PFP had been in 1978, when the party polled 5.22%. Although it is true that one of the PFP candidates in 2008 was in a race with no Republican (thus giving her percentage a boost), even if that race is excluded, PFP’s 2008 showing would still be its best ever for Assembly.
Also in 2008, PFP had its second best showing for State Senate, after 1990. And in 2008 it had its best showing for its US House candidates since 1992. Finally, in 2008 it had its best ever presidential showing, .80% for Ralph Nader. The previous best for PFP for president had been Dr. Benjamin Spock in 1972 with .66%.
On January 14, the 11th circuit agreed with a U.S. District Court that Georgia may require voters at the polls to show a government photo-ID. Common Cause v Billups, 07-14664.
The decision, written by Judge William Pryor (who was once Alabama’s Attorney General) seems to contain a factual error in the first paragraph. It says, “Before an adult passenger can board an airplane for a commercial flight in the United States, the passenger must present to a federal official an identification card with a photograph of the passenger.” Actually, passengers without such photo ID can still fly if they consent to an extra-thorough search, and if they can orally establish their identity. See this TSA policy. Apparently, TSA uses its computers to log onto the credit record of someone who doesn’t have photo ID. Then the TSA employee quizzes the person without ID to see if he or she can answer questions; the answers can be verified via the on-line credit report.
Just being on the ballot in a two-person race does not automatically mean that a minor party candidate will get a fairly respectable share of the vote. This is evident when one looks at the race for Delaware State Representative, 20th district, from the November 2008 election. The only two candidates on the ballot were Republican Nick Manolakos, and the nominee of the Blue Enigma Party, Daniel D. Rappa, Jr.
The vote was 8,045 for Manolakos, and only 24 votes for Rappa. The Blue Enigma Party stood for increasing the salaries of Delaware public school teachers. It ran one candidate for Governor and three for the legislature.
On January 14, West Virginia Libertarian Party state chair Matt Harris, and national chair Bill Redpath, spent the day lobbying key West Virginia legislators for better ballot access. Currently, for president, West Virginia is tied with North Carolina for having the 2nd most restrictive requirement. West Virginia requirements for office other than president are even more restrictive than for president, and no statewide non-presidential petition has succeeded in West Virginia since 2000.
