Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform, the group working on the proposed initiative to ask the voters of Oklahoma if they want to ease the ballot access laws, is meeting again on August 18, Saturday, in Stroud, Oklahoma. The meeting is at 1:30 pm at Mazzio’s Restauraut. For more information see www.OkVoterChoice.org.
During August, a proposed California initiative to alter the way California chooses presidential electors has garnered considerable publicity. The proposed initiative, backed by Republican Party leaders, would provide that each U.S. House district would choose its own presidential elector. Since California normally casts all its electoral votes for the Democratic nominee, and since this plan would presumably produce approximately 34 Democratic electors and 21 Republican electors from California, Democrats have already begun to attack the idea.
However, both sides may have overlooked the broader ramifications. 23 states have the initiative process (Illinois’ so-called initiative can’t be used for almost all topics, so Illinois is not included). Of those 23 states, 18 of them voted for Bush in each of the last presidential elections. If Republicans could do an initiative in California, Massachusetts, Maine, Oregon and Washington, then Democrats are free to do similiar initiatives in the other 18 initiative states, which include Ohio and Florida.
Furthermore, there is no reason the proposed initiatives need to give each US House district its own elector. Another alternative would be one similar to that defeated in Colorado in 2004, to divide each state’s electors proportionately to the popular vote. In this manner, even the 5 Republican states with only a single US House district (North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Alaska) could end up with plans that would normally result in 2 Republican electors and 1 Democratic elector.
A broader implication for these initiatives might be a final revulsion with the electoral college, and a push for either the National Popular Vote plan, or a constitutional amendment to end the electoral college.
Kent Mesplay, Gail Parker, and Joe Schriner faced off in the first ever online Green Party presidential debate sponsored by Laptop America and My God Given Rights. The debate was two hours long and commercial free. You can listen here.
Thanks to Third Party Watch.
On August 9, New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said he will ask the Attorney General whether an unqualified party can circulate a presidential candidate petition listing one particular presidential candidate, and then have that candidate withdraw (should he or she not be nominated) and have the actual national convention nominee replace him or her.
The New Hampshire Libertarian Party is currently circulating a presidential candidate petition, listing George Phillies for president. Phillies is an active and vigorous campaigner for that nomination, but no one knows who the actual Libertarian Party presidential nominee will be. The NHLP has started circulating this petition because (even though only 3,000 signatures are needed) the petitioning process in New Hampshire is very ardurous. The party failed to get its needed 3,000 signatures for Michael Badnarik in 2004, and failed to get its needed 3,000 signatures for Richard Kahn for Governor in 2006. New Hampshire petitions must be turned in to each town clerk. Later, after the town clerks have checked them, the group must physically collect them and transport them to the Secretary of State’s office. Sometimes it is difficult to get the town clerks to do this work. The process takes far longer than it does in most states.
If the Attorney General rules that a presidential candidate listed on a petition may withdraw, he will be agreeing with similar rulings in many other states. If he refuses to allow it, it is possible the NHLP will bring a lawsuit.
The Libertarian Party national convention is in late May 2008 in Denver, Colorado.
The September 1, 2007 paper version of Ballot Access News will carry a story about the requirements for an independent candidate for U.S. House to get on the 2008 ballot. The requirements for each of the 435 districts have been calculated. The most severe requirement is in North Carolina’s 4th district, where an independent will need approximately 20,131 valid signatures. The North Carolina formula is 4% of the number of registered voters as of January 2008, so the precise requirement cannot be known now. The 20,131 figure is obtained by using the last known registration tally, and it won’t change much.
A lawsuit is being planned by an independent candidate for U.S. House in North Carolina. No independent candidate for U.S. House has ever qualified to appear on a government-printed ballot in North Carolina. North Carolina has used government-printed ballots since 1901.
Georgia’s statutory requirement is even worse. Georgia’s petition requirement is 5% of the number of registered voters. But, oddly, no district in Georgia in 2008 will require more than 20,070 signatures. The 5% independent petition for U.S. House was last used in Georgia in 1964, back when there were far fewer registered voters, and the petitions weren’t due until October of the election year, and they weren’t checked for validity.
