Oklahoma Ballot Access Bill Introduced

Posted on by January 10, 2009
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Oklahoma State Senator Randy Brogdon has introduced SB 359, to improve ballot access. For independent presidential candidates, who now need a petition signed by 3% of the last presidential vote (the worst in the nation), the bill permits a filing fee option. The fee would be $5,000.

For a new or previously unqualified party, the bill reduces the number of signatures from 5% of the last vote cast to exactly 5,000 signatures. Oklahoma required exactly 5,000 signatures for new parties from 1924 to 1974, and no election ever saw more than two minor parties on the Oklahoma ballot during those years.

Also, the bill lowers the vote test for a party to remain on the ballot from 10% to 1%. The national median vote test for a party to remain on the ballot is 2%.

Oklahoma was the only state in 2008 in which voters could not vote for president unless they voted for the Republican nominee or the Democratic nominee. The same situation was true in 2004 in Oklahoma as well. Thanks to Tom Holmes for this news.

State Fiscal Problems Give Opportunity for Ballot Access Improvement

Posted on by January 10, 2009
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Virtually all states are having budget problems. This situation may provide an opening for activists to suggest that state legislatures replace ballot access petitions with filing fees. Canada and Great Britain depend on filing fees, rather than difficult petition requirements, to regulate access to the ballot. And in the U.S., almost two-thirds of the states already depend mostly on filing fees, not mandatory petitions, to regulate access to primary ballots.

Fiscal considerations ought to support this idea. Election administrators must expend resources to handle petitions, especially if state law requires that all petitions be checked. On the other hand, filing fees not only cost nothing to administer, they add to government revenue.

Of course, past U.S. Supreme Court precedents require states to leave petition alternatives in the law. Also, of course, it is bad policy for the filing fees to be exorbitant.

States that already use filing fees to regulate independent candidate access to the general election ballot are Louisiana, Florida (but not for president), Oklahoma (but not for president), and Colorado (president only).

Two Minnesota Legislators Propose Run-Offs for Very Close Statewide Elections

Posted on by January 9, 2009
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On December 8, two Minnesota state legislators said they will introduce a bill to provide for run-offs in statewide general elections, when the margin between the two candidates is less than one-half of 1%. See this story. The legislators did not mention using Instant-Runoff. The article points out that a run-off would cost several million dollars for election administrators.

The proposal is intrinsically unwise. Its authors seem not to have considered the point that an election might end up with a very narrow margin approximating one-half of 1%. In that case, a recount would be needed to see if the person who got the most votes really had a few votes more than that one-half of 1% margin, or a few votes under it. Furthermore, there is also the possibility that a run-off could also end up being ultra-close.

Federal Court Hears Argument in Case over City Council Term Limits

Posted on by January 9, 2009
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Last year, the New York city council suspended term limits (for themselves and for Mayor) that the city voters had passed in 1993 and reaffirmed in 1996. Supporters of the term limits law filed a federal lawsuit on November 10, 2008. The case was argued on January 5, 2009. The case is Molinari v Bloomberg, federal court, Brooklyn, 08-cv-4539. Here is the 56-page transcript. From the judge’s comments about the audience, it sounds as though the courtroom was crowded to capacity. The judge let spectators sit in the jury box, to help let as many people as possible into the audience.