Friday, September 12, 2014

Ballot Access for Political Parties Under Single Ballot Open Primaries


As part of the evolution to a single ballot open-primary, I was interested in how a political party gets qualified to be considered a major or minor party and the access to the ballot.

Today we have Top-Two, and a possible Top-Three and Top-Four in the future.

This is how the three states using a single ballot qualify political parties:

California Top-Two Primary

ELECTIONS CODE SECTION 5100
A party is qualified to participate in any primary election under any of the following conditions:

(a) If at the last preceding gubernatorial election there was polled for any one of its candidates for any office voted on throughout the state, at least 2 percent of the entire vote of the state.

(b) If on or before the 135th day before any primary election, it appears to the Secretary of State, as a result of examining and totaling the statement of voters and their political affiliations transmitted to him or her by the county elections officials, that voters equal in number to at least 1 percent of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election have declared their intention to affiliate with that party.

(c) If on or before the 135th day before any primary election, there is filed with the Secretary of State a petition signed by voters, equal in number to at least 10 percent of the entire vote of the state at the last preceding gubernatorial election, declaring that they represent a proposed party, the name of which shall be stated in the petition, which proposed party those voters desire to have participate in that primary election.

Louisiana Nonpartisan Blanket Primary
A new party will be recognized when the following three things occur:

1) At least 1,000 registered voters affiliate with the party on their voter registration form.

2) The party files a notarized registration statement with the Secretary of State's Office.

3) The party pays a $1,000 registration fee to the Secretary of State's Office.

In order to maintain their ballot access, newly recognized parties must continue to put candidates on the ballot.  If no registered member of the party qualifies as a candidate for four consecutive years, the party will cease to be recognized.

However, if a candidate of the newly recognized party for president receives at least five percent of the votes cast in a presidential election, or if a candidate of the party for any statewide office receives at least five percent of the votes cast for that office in a primary or general election, the four-year rule will no longer apply.

That means that if the party's candidate in a presidential or statewide race receives at least five percent of the votes cast, the party will never have to re-qualify with the state.  For example, 1,994,065 votes were cast for president in 2012.  In order for a newly recognized party to maintain its status without fielding candidates every four years, its candidate for president would have had to receive at least 99,703 votes.

Washington Top-Two Primary
The Top-Two primary system allows candidates to list any party as the party that they prefer.  Thus, minor parties and minor party candidates are not required to conduct conventions or collect signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The state law no longer dictates how political parties conduct their nominations, and the parties may decide themselves how to conduct their nominations.  A "major political party" is defined as a political party whose nominees for president and vice president received at least five percent of the total vote cast at the last presidential election. A "minor political party" is a political organization other than a major political party.

Living in New York, another major issue to get a single open primary ballot would be Fusion.

Electoral Fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate.  Distinct from the process of electoral alliances in that the political parties remain separately listed on the ballot, the practice of electoral fusion in jurisdictions where it exists allows minor parties to influence election results and policy by offering to endorse or nominate a major party's candidate.

Electoral fusion is also known as fusion voting, cross-endorsement, multiple party nomination, multi-party nomination, plural nomination, and ballot-freedom

New York made one big change to fusion voting in the Wilson Pakula Act of 1947.  If candidates want to get on the ballot using a minor-party line without changing affiliation, they have to get approval from party leaders, instead of through gathered signatures.

Now, fusion voting is only allowed in seven states: Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, South Carolina and Vermont.

So among all of the obstacles to a single ballot open primary, how do you get rid of FUSION?










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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