Ballot Access is a two sided sword. It deals with candidates getting on the ballot and registered voters being allowed to vote in the candidates’ selection process.
Candidates In the coming weeks, legislators in at least 16 states will be working on legislation to curb unnecessary restrictions on voter choice. In some of these states, ballot access reforms have already made it into law.
NebraskaIs the first state this year to enact ballot access reform, eliminating “the county distribution requirement for statewide non-presidential independent candidate petitions.
New MexicoOmnibus election law bill contains provisions to extend the petition deadline for independent candidates by three weeks, and lower the petition signature requirement for new parties in mid-term election years.
IllinoisRep. Jim Watson (R-Jacksonville) introduced House Bill 2854, to allow candidates to pay a filing fee in place of Illinois’ petitioning requirements.
PennsylvaniaBallot Access Coalition is working with Rep. Eugene DePasquale (D-York) and Senator Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon) to push for passage of the Voters’ Choice Act (Senate Bill 21). The bill would lower the threshold for new parties to become recognized for the ballot, and reduce the number of signatures required for independent candidates.
North CarolinaState Reps Stephen LaRoque (R-Lenoir), Glen Bradley (R-Youngsville), Paul Leubke (D-Durham) and Jean Farmer-Butterfield (D-Wilson) introduced the Electoral Freedom Act (House Bill 32) that would dramatically reduce the number of signatures required to a fixed figure for a new political party or an unaffiliated candidate to qualify for the ballot. The Free the Vote Coalition, composed of fifteen organizations including Free the Vote North Carolina, the Free & Equal Elections Foundation, FairVote Action, the John Locke Foundation and Democracy North Carolina, are actively lobbying for the bill’s passage. State Senators Andrew C. Brock (R-Mocksville) and Eleanor Kinnaird (D-Chapel Hill) introduced Senate Bill 225, a companion bill, in the North Carolina Senate in early March.
OklahomanBallot Access Reform (OBAR) is working with Rep. Charles Key (R-Oklahoma City) to promote House Bill 1058, which would cut the signature requirement for new political parties in half. The bill calls for a 22,500 signature requirement, rather than the current requirement of 5% of votes cast in the last statewide election.
AlabamaIndependent Alabama is backing a ballot access reform effort, while Marylanders4Democracy is pressing the issue in
Maryland. The
New Hampshire Libertarian Party is backing a ballot access reform bill in their state. Other states with pending ballot access legislation are
Alaska,
Arizona,
Idaho,
Maine,
Missouri,
New York and
Tennessee.
But many states are trying to make it more difficult for new parties or independents to get on the ballot. I am starting to see some states looking to replace petition signatures with a filing fee.
VotersOpen Primaries are under attack and we are 1 and 1.
IdahoThe decision by U.S. District Judge B. Linn Winmill earlier this month forced state lawmakers to rethink the rules for primary elections. Winmill determined the constitutional right to free association also protects the right not to associate with certain groups. The ruling came after the State Republican Party filed a lawsuit claiming Idaho's primary system, which allowed anyone to take part in GOP primaries, unfairly lumped die-hard Republicans in with independents and even Democrats seeking to skew election outcomes. Winmill's ruling also validated evidence presented at trial showing that past primaries were influenced by crossover voting by Democrats and independents.
Legislation designed to give Idaho political parties the option of closing primary elections only to voters willing to register with the party cleared its first hurdle Wednesday. The Senate State Affairs Committee voted along party lines for the bill that was hammered out after a federal court ruling declared Idaho's 38-year-old system of open primaries unconstitutional. The bill is now headed to the full Senate. It would give parties a series of options for laying the ground rules of primary elections, including closing participation to those registered with the party. If the bill passes, the GOP is expected to limit participation in 2012 to just registered Republicans, including those who register on Election Day. For the first time in state history, the bill would make a voter's party registration a public record and set a deadline of 180 days before the primary for voters to notify the county in writing about their decision to disassociate from a party.
Judge Winmill's ruling is being appealed by the New York based Committee for a United Independent Party. The group's lawyer Gary Allen warned the public record provision could infringe on constitutional privacy rights. Citing a recent Boise State University survey showing the majority of Idaho voters view themselves as independents, Allen cautioned lawmakers against setting rules that could keep independents home on primary election day. "A third of Idaho voters have lost their right to vote in the state's primaries as a result of this decision," said Harry Kresky, co-counsel for the group calling itself the American Independent Movement of Idaho. "As a result of our invention in the litigation, independents are able to take the necessary legal steps to protect their interests, regardless of what the State of Idaho decides to do in the courts or in the legislature in response to the decision."
South CarolinaA federal judge tossed out a lawsuit by Republicans Wednesday who wanted South Carolina to close their primary and begin requiring voters to register with a party before voting in a primary. If Republicans don’t want outsiders to help choose their nominees, they have other options, like picking candidates at a party convention or filling out petitions to get them on the ballot, U.S. District Judge Michelle Childs ruled.
The decision reverberates nationally.
South Carolina’s first-in-the-South Republican presidential primary, which has been won by the party’s eventual nominee in each election since 1980, is open to any registered voter in the state, forcing candidates to moderate their message to a wider audience. The Democratic contest is also open. “It’s a great day for independents. It’s a great day for all voters in South Carolina,” said lawyer Harry Kresky, who argued the case for IndependentVoting.org. “The primary confirms a great deal of legitimacy on a candidate.” IndependentVoting.org. joined with the state, Tea Party members and black lawmakers in fighting the lawsuit. Republicans are discussing whether to appeal the ruling, said S.C. GOP executive director Joel Sawyer.
Republicans also plan to ask legislators to pass a law allowing voters in the state to register to vote by party, which likely would open the door to closing primaries to only party members. In arguments before the judge earlier this month in Greenville, Republicans said 25 other states have closed primaries and South Carolina’s current laws break the party’s constitutional rights to associate with the people they choose. They also said the requirement that 75 percent of convention members have to approve picking the nominee at a convention is an unfair hurdle because many churches and corporations only need a simple majority to get things done. Judge Childs ruled political parties are different because they are allowed access to elections and ballots denied to private organizations.
The state argued that the case wasn’t just about political parties choosing whom they want to associate with, it also involves voters deciding whether they want to associate with parties. Also, choosing whether to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary is in a way choosing to align with a party, government lawyers argued.
But with more voters’ registered in no party their argument does not hold. Today over 38% of voters’ are voting for the candidates not the party. So it is important to keep the current system of primaries open but this creates other issues. Why are states using taxpayer’s money to pay for private party’s candidate selection process?
We should be using an open primary system that would include candidates from: the party’s paid for selection process, party members not selected, independents, and write-ins. This would then allow all registered voters to become part of the selection and election process.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!Michael H. Drucker
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Omar H. Ali, Executive Editor
March 23, 2011 - Attorney Gary Allen (left), Mitch Campbell, chair the American Independent Movement of Idaho (center), and Attorney Harry Kresky (right) outside the Federal Court in Boise, Idaho. 
