Ron Paul on “The Daily Show” Criticizes U.S. Policy Toward Third Parties

Posted on by June 5, 2007
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On the evening of June 4, Congressman Ron Paul was on “The Daily Show” with host Jon Stewart. Stewart asked Paul about his choice to run for president as a Republican instead of any alternate path. Paul said, “I ran in 1988 as a Libertarian candidate for President, but I’ve been in Congress for 10 terms always as a Republican, including currently…You don’t get in the debates when running outside the major parties. We’re overseas spreading the message of democracy, but here, if you’re in a third party, you can’t get on ballots…you spend all your time getting on ballots…you have to be a Ross Perot to get on all the ballots…The two parties are very much in control of the system, and they exclude individuals who aren’t in that mold.”

This post is being written on Tuesday morning, June 5. It will be interesting to see of any of the other Republican presidential contenders make reference to Paul’s remarks, in the Republican presidential debate tonight.

New California Bill for Redistricting Reform Would Involve Independent, Minor Party Voters

Posted on by June 4, 2007
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On June 4, the California Assembly Republican leader, Assemblyman Mike Villines, introduced ACA 4. It would provide that congressional and legislative district boundaries should be drawn by an independent Citizens Commission. The members would be selected randomly from the ranks of registered voters, although service would be voluntary. The Commission would consist of 4 Democrats, 4 Republicans, and 3 independent or minor party voters. Final maps would need approval from a majority of each of the three groups on the Commission. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.

Helpful Colorado Ballot Access Bill Signed Into Law

Posted on by June 4, 2007
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On Sunday, June 3, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter signed SB 83. It improves ballot access in two ways: (1) it lets qualified minor parties nominate someone even if that person has not been a member of that party in the past; (2) if a candidate for a district or county office is circulating a petition to get on a ballot, his or her circulators need not live in that district or county. SB 83 is an omnibus election law bill and it has many other unrelated provisions.

Colorado, Arkansas and Ohio seem to be the only states that have improved ballot access for minor parties or independent candidates this year, although there are still possibilities of improvements being made this year by the legislatures of Alabama, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, and New York.

Oklahoma City Daily Newspaper Finally Mentions Ballot Access Defeat

Posted on by June 4, 2007
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The main story in the printed version of Ballot Access News, June 1, 2007 issue, was the failure of the Oklahoma ballot access case that had been filed in 2004 by the Libertarian Party. On May 14, the Oklahoma Supreme Court had refused to hear the case, even though the evidence showed that Oklahoma is the only state with presidential ballot access that is more difficult than a petition of 2% of the last vote cast. Also the evidence showed that Oklahoma voters in 2004 were the only voters who could not vote for president unless they voted for President Bush or Senator Kerry. One of the sad side-effects was that the Oklahoma mainstream media hadn’t even mentioned the lawsuit outcome.

However, the June 4, 2007 issue of The Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City’s leading daily newspaper) does have an editorial, expressing disappointment that the Oklahoma Supreme Court refused to hear the case. See it here. Thanks to D. Frank Robinson for this news.

Ballot Access News sent a copy of the June 1 printed issue to each Oklahoma legislator, and also e-mailed each Oklahoma state legislator (the individual e-mails were sent on June 3). However, the legislative session is over for this year. So far, one State Senator has replied that he does favor ballot access reform.