BALLOT ACCESS NEWS

www.ballot-access.org

December 1, 2015

Volume 31 Number 7

INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING INITIATIVE QUALIFIES IN MAINE

VOTE SET FOR NOVEMBER 8, 2016
On November 18, the Maine Secretary of State determined that an initiative for Instant Runoff Voting has
enough valid signatures and will be
on the November 8, 2016 ballot.
This will be only the second time in
U.S. history that voters have been
asked if they wish to implement Instant Runoff Voting for state and
federal office.
Proponents needed 61,126 valid signatures. They submitted 75,369, and
64,687 were found valid. The validity rate, 85.8%, is very high, but was
bolstered by the fact that so many
signatures were collected at the polls
in November 2014 and at local elections in 2015.
The only other statewide vote on IRV
was in Alaska in August 2002, at the
primary. It lost 38%-62%. However,
the Maine initiative has more public
support than the Alaska initiative
had. In the last eight Maine gubernatorial elections, no candidate has received as much as 50% in seven of
them. In 2010, Republican Paul
LePage was elected with only
38.07%, and in 2006 Democrat John
Baldacci was elected with 38.11%.
There is a common belief that some
of these gubernatorial elections
would have had different outcomes if
IRV had been used.
Most of Maines daily newspapers
had already endorsed the measure,
even before it got on the ballot. The
Maine League of Women Voters has
supported the idea since 2011. Other
state leagues that also support IRV
are the leagues of Arizona, California, Minnesota, North Carolina,
Vermont, and Washington.
In 2011, the voters of Portland,
Maine, passed a local initiative to use
IRV in city elections, and it was used
starting in 2015.

Starting in 2001, there have been

IRV bills in the legislature every session, but they have never passed. In
2013, LD 518 lost in the Senate by
13-20, and in the House by 57-90.
The initiative would apply to primaries and general elections alike. It
applies to all federal and state office
except President. Voters would be
allowed to rank up to six candidates.
Voters could rank a write-in candidate, but not more than one.
Since 1880, the Maine Constitution
has said that the Governor is elected
by plurality vote, so it is conceivable
that as to Governor, the measure violates the State Constitution. The
2016 session of the legislature is
permitted to pass an IRV measure, or
even conceivably a Constitutional
amendment. If it did so, and if the
initiative proponents are happy with
it, they could remove the initiative
from the ballot.
No voting system is perfect. One of
the great virtues of IRV is that it is a
reform that can generate more appeal
than top-two systems.
When the Maine League of Women
Voters wrote about IRV earlier this
year, it said, Another alternative to
plurality voting is called the top-two
primary. In this option, all candidates run in a primary open to voters
regardless of party enrollment, with
the top two vote-getters advancing to
the general election. The League in
Maine does not support this alternative. While it may be less expensive
to administer, it denies members of
political parties the opportunity to
choose their own nominees, and it
could result in two members of the
same political party, with minimal
support in a multi-candidate field,
facing each other in the general election.

MINOR PARTIES FILING

THREE NEW LAWSUITS
During November and early December, minor parties filed or are filing
three constitutional election law lawsuits:
Connecticut: in the first week of December, the Libertarian Party will file
a lawsuit to overturn the states ban
on out-of-state circulators.
Such bans have been overturned in
Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas,
Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
Wisconsin. Three states tried to get
the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate
their laws, but these attempts (by
Arizona, Illinois and Virginia) did
not succeed.
The Connecticut ACLU is doing this
lawsuit. The ACLU is also doing
ballot access cases in California,
Georgia, New Hampshire, and South
Dakota.
Illinois: on November 19, two Libertarian candidates for state office in
2016 filed a lawsuit, to overturn a
2013 law that makes it illegal for a
medical cannibis business, or a PAC
formed by such a business, to contribute to a candidate. Ball v Madigan, 1:15cv-10441, n.d. It was assigned to Judge John Z. Lee, an
Obama appointee.
Kentucky: in early December, the
Libertarian Party and the Constitution
Party will file a lawsuit against the
states definition of ballot-qualified
party. Kentucky is the only state that
has no means for a group to become a
qualified party unless it makes a certain showing in a presidential election. The lawsuit also challenges the
law that wont let voters sign two
different general election petitions for
the same office.

_______________________________________________________________
Ballot Access News, Bx 470296 San Francisco CA 94147, 415-922-9779, richardwinger@yahoo.com

December 1, 2015

Ballot Access News

CPD STICKS TO 15%

RULE JUST AS EVIDENCE
AGAINST IT PILES UP

UTAH REPUBLICAN AND

CONSTITUTION PARTIES
WIN PRIMARY LAWSUIT

On October 29, the Commission on

Presidential Debates said it will continue to require 15% in polls, in order
for candidates to be included in general election debates.

On November 3, U.S. District Court

Judge David Nuffer, an Obama appointee, struck down Utahs law
permitting independent voters to vote
in primaries even when the party
wishes to exclude them Utah Republican Party v Herbert, 2:14cv-876.
The Constitution Party was a coplaintiff.

Almost immediately afterwards, a raft

of articles appeared, demonstrating
the unreliability of candidate polls.
The New Yorker ran a long story on
November 9, summarizing reasons to
think that polls in election contests
will become obsolete, because accurate election polling has become so
much more difficult in the cell phone
era.
On November 7, the Huffington Post
ran a story about the very great failure of polls to accurately predict the
outcome of the Kentucky gubernatorial election held four days earlier.
On November 10, the New York
Times carried a story about the poor
performance of election polls in other
countries this year.
On November 17, statistician Nate
Silver, speaking at Columbia University, said he is pretty worried about
the accuracy of election polls.
It is likely that these points will be
introduced as evidence in either or
both of the lawsuits now pending on
general election presidential debates.

FOUR REPUBLICANS GET

FREE TV TIME
On November 23, NBC said that four
Republican presidential candidates
will each get twelve minutes of free
broadcast time. This is because of
the Equal Time rule, and the fact that
Donald Trump appeared on an NBC
show, Saturday Night Live. The four
Republicans are John Kasich, Mike
Huckabee, Lindsey Graham, and Jim
Gilmore. George Pataki also asked
for free time, but no decision has
been made on his request. The Equal
Time law is rarely invoked, because
bona fide news programs are exempt
from its provisions.

The law says if a party wont let independents into its primary, then its
nominees cant be on the general
election ballot unless they complete
independent candidate petitions, and
even if they do, they get no party
label. The judge seemed to take it for
granted that this is so severe, it gives
parties no real choice.
This is only the second time a semiclosed primary had been declared
unconstitutional. The other instance
was in 2007, when the Arizona Libertarian Party won a similar lawsuit.
The Arizona Libertarians didnt want
independents voting in the Libertarian primary, because there are so
many more independents than registered Libertarians, the voice of the
registered Libertarian voters would
have been drowned out. Semi-closed
primaries are those in which independent voters may vote in any
partys primary, but registered members of parties can only vote in their
own partys primary.
Judge Nuffer upheld another Utah
law, which lets someone who has
little or no support at a party caucus
still run in a primary, by submitting a
petition. However, he construed that
law to mean that only registered party
members could sign such primary
petitions.
The Republican Party still believes
that it has a right to block candidates
from running in its primary if they
dont have 35% or more support at a
party meeting. The party will ask the
Utah Supreme Court to settle that
issue, which will require that the U.S.
District Court certify the question to
the State Supreme Court.

INITIATIVES FOR NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS

FOR CONGRESS IN TWO
STATES
Voters in Arizona and South Dakota
will probably vote in November 2016
on whether to make all elections
other than presidential elections nonpartisan. Organizers of the South
Dakota initiative submitted approximately 40,000 signatures on November 9. The state says it wont be done
checking them for validity until
spring 2016, but the petition is likely
to be sufficient, because only 27,740
valid signatures are required.
The wording of the Arizona initiative
for non-partisan elections is still not
final, but it will be soon. After it is
final, organizers will have until early
July 2016 to get the signatures.
In the entire history of governmentprinted ballots, which began in 1888,
no state has ever had non-partisan
elections for Congress, if nonpartisan is defined as a system in
which no party labels appear on the
ballot and parties dont have nominees. California and Washington
have systems in which parties dont
have nominees, but party labels still
appear on the ballot. Polls have
shown that voters want party labels
on the ballot for elections for Congress. The only two states that have
had non-partisan elections for legislature have been Minnesota 1914-1972
and Nebraska 1936-on.

KENTUCKY
LIBERALIZES VOTING
RIGHTS FOR EX-FELONS
On November 24, outgoing Kentucky
Governor Steve Beshear issued an
executive order, vastly easing the
ability of most ex-felons to register to
vote. Ex-felons in Kentucky cannot
register to vote unless the Governor
intervenes and awards them the ability to register. But under the new
procedure, such approval will be
automatic for most ex-felons, unless
they were convicted of a violent
crime, or bribery, or treason. The
new Governor, who takes office in
soon, supports the liberalization.

_______________________________________________________________
Ballot Access News, Bx 470296, San Francisco CA 94147 (415) 922-9779, richardwinger@yahoo.com

December 1, 2015

SLOW JUDGES
To an unusual degree, federal judges
in many states are taking a long time
to decide ballot access cases, even in
the face of impending elections.
Alabama: the lawsuit Hall v Bennett
was filed September 17, 2013. The
issue is whether the state can require
independent candidates in special
elections to complete a petition of
3% of the last gubernatorial vote,
given that such candidates typically
only have two months between the
announcement of the election and the
petition deadline. There is still no
decision. The case was transferred
from Judge Mark Fuller to Judge
Myron Thompson on August 20,
2014.
In the meantime, 5 special legislative
elections have been held in Alabama,
or are about to be, since the case was
filed. No independent was able to
qualify in any of them, but if the decision had come out earlier, and if it
were favorable, there probably would
have been such candidates on the
ballot.
Arizona: all the briefs in Arizona
Green Party v Bennett were filed in
the Ninth Circuit by November 21,
2014, over a year ago. But the Ninth
Circuit still hasnt set a hearing date.
The issue is Arizonas February petition deadline for newly-qualifying
parties.
Hawaii: all the briefs in Democratic
Party of Hawaii v Nago were filed in
the Ninth Circuit by July 10, 2014,
but the Ninth Circuit still hasnt set a
hearing date. The issue is whether
the Democratic Party may prevent
members of other parties from voting
in its primaries.
Illinois: on April 5, 2012, the lawsuit
Libertarian Party of Illinois v State
Board of Elections was filed. There
is still no decision. The judge who
has the case now, on ten different
occasions, has said she will have the
opinion out on a certain date, but all
ten times, she did not. The issue is
the law that says newly-qualifying
parties (but not other parties) must
run a full slate of candidates.

Ballot Access News

Kentucky: on September 28, 2014,
the lawsuit Libertarian National
Committee v Holiday was filed. The
issue was the standards used by public television for inclusion in the U.S.
Senate debate of October 2014. Although injunctive relief was denied
on October 11, 2014, there is still no
decision, or even a hearing date set
yet, for determining whether the debate standards violated federal campaign finance law.
There are other cases still pending
that were filed in 2012, 2013 or
2014, but they have moved along
expeditiously. These are from Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri,
New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Virginia. They concern ballot access, or
order of candidates on ballots.

TOP-TWO NEWS
California: On November 11, Californians to Defend the Open Primary
filed a Declaration in U.S. District
Court which says, There continue to
be rumors of a potential effort to repeal Proposition 14 in the near future,
potentially in 2018. The filing does
not give further details.
The Declaration was filed in the lawsuit Soltysik v Padilla, in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit does not concern the validity of
Californias top-two system. It instead challenges the California law
that says only some candidates may
have a party preference listed on the
ballot. Californians to Defend the
Open Primary is composed of the
California Chamber of Commerce
and the Business Roundtable. They
are seeking to intervene in the lawsuit, because they say the California
Secretary of State wont defend
against the lawsuit forcefully. Californians to Defend the Open Primary
say that if the labels provision is declared unconstitutional, that the opponents of the top-two system would
then gain a public relations victory
against the entire top-two law. A
hearing will be held in December to
determine if the group should be allowed to intervene.

Florida: on November 13, the proponents of a top-two system said they

will not attempt to get their initiative
on the ballot for 2016, but they said
they will try for 2018.

NINTH CIRCUIT STRIKES

DOWN TUCSONS CITY
COUNCIL ELECTIONS
Tucson is the only city in Arizona
that uses partisan elections for city
council. On November 10, the Ninth
Circuit issued an opinion in Public
Integrity Alliance v City of Tucson,
15-16142. The decision strikes down
the aspect that says parties nominate
in primaries held within city wards,
but in the general election, the election is at-large. The decision is 2-1
and the majority says this system
violates Equal Protection. The city
has asked for a rehearing.
The majority opinion is flawed, because it says, Because a candidate
must win a primary in order to compete in the general election, the right
to choose a representative is in fact
controlled by the primary. Actually,
Tucson lets independent candidates
petition directly onto the general
election ballot.
Apparently the
judges didnt know that. The dissent
didnt notice that problem either.

CHART ON PAGE FOUR

The chart on page four, Petition
Rules for Independent Presidential
Candidates has details about those
petitions. The column Start Date
has the start date, if a state has a start
date (most states dont care how early
the petition begins to circulate). VP? tells if the petition must list a
vice-presidential nominee.
Electors? tells whether candidates for
presidential elector must be on the
petition. Pres Substitution? tells
whether a stand-in presidential candidate can be used on the petition.
V-P Substitution? tells whether a
stand-in vice-presidential candidate
can be used. For states in which no
vice-presidential candidate must be
listed, that column is blank.

_______________________________________________________________
Ballot Access News, Bx 470296, San Francisco CA 94147 (415) 922-9779, richardwinger@yahoo.com

December 1, 2015

Ballot Access News

PETITION RULES FOR INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES

State
Ala.
Alas.
Ariz.
Ark.
Cal.
Ct.
Del
D.C.
Fla.
Ga.
Hi.
Ida
Ill.
Ind.
Iowa
Kan.
Ky.
Maine
Md.
Mass.
Mich.
Minn.
Miss.
Mo.
Mt.
Neb.
Nev.
N.H.
N.J.
N.M.
N.Y.
No.C.
No.D.
Ohio
Okla.
Ore.
Pa.
R.I..
So.C.
So.D.
Tenn.
Tex.
Utah
Vt.
Va.
Wash.
W.Va.
Wis.
Wyo.

Start Date ?
No
No
No
No
April 29, 2016
Jan. 4, 2016
No
March 25, 2016
No
April 12, 2015
No
No
March 29, 2016
No
No
No
Nov. 4, 2015
Jan. 1, 2016
No
Feb. 16, 2016
No
June 24, 2016
No
No
No
No
No
Jan. 4, 2016
No
March 1, 2016
July 12, 2016
No
No
No
No
No
Feb. 17, 2016
June 29, 2016
No
Jan. 1, 2016
No
March 2, 2016
No
No
Jan. 4, 2016
May 7, 2016
No
July 1, 2016
No

V-P?

Electors?
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No

Pres. Substitution?
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No

No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
No

V-P Substitution?
Yes
--Undetermined
Yes
Yes
-Yes
Yes
-No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
-No
-Undetermined
--Yes
Yes
--Yes
-Yes
--Yes
--Yes
--No
--Yes
-Yes
Yes
-Yes
--

V-P? tells whether the petition form must list a vice-presidential candidate. Electors? tells whether
candidates for presidential elector must be on the form. See page three for more about this chart.
____________________________________________________________
Ballot Access News, Bx 470296, San Francisco CA 94147 (415) 922-9779, richardwinger@yahoo.com

December 1, 2015

Ballot Access News

PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY CANDIDATES ALREADY ON BALLOT

DEMOCRATS
Jon Adams, New York
Steve Burke, New York
Hillary Clinton, New York
Rocky De La Fuente, California
Eric Elbot, Massachusetts
William D. French, Pennsylvania
Mark Greenstein, Connecticut
Henry Hewes, New York
Brock C. Hutton, Maryland
Keith Judd, Texas
Lloyd Kelso, North Carolina
Steven Lipscomb, New Mexico
Star Locke, Texas
Robert Lovitt, Kentucky
William McGaughey, Minnesota
Raymond Moroz, New York
Edward ODonnell, Pennsylvania
Martin J. OMalley, Maryland
Bernie Sanders, Vermont
Graham Schwass, Massachusetts
Sam Sloan, New York
Edward Sonnino, New York
Michael A. Steinberg, Florida
Vermin Supreme, Massachusetts
David John Thistle, New Hampshire
James Valentine, Florida
Richard Weil, Colorado
Willie Wilson, Illinois
John Wolfe, Tennessee
REPUBLICANS
Jeb Bush, Florida
Ben Carson, Florida
Chris Christie, New Jersey
Stephen B. Comley, Massachusetts
Tim Cook, North Carolina
Ted Cruz, Texas
Brooks A. Cullison, Illinois
Matt Drozd, Pennsylvania
J. Daniel Dyas, Alabama
Carly Fiorina, Virginia
Jim Gilmore, Virginia
Lindsey Graham, South Carolina
Mike Huckabee, Florida
Kevin Glenn Huey, Colorado
Walter N. Iwachiw, New York
Bobby Jindal, Louisiana
John R. Kasich, Ohio
Frank Lynch, Florida
Stephen John McCarthy, Ohio
Rpbert Mann, Indiana
Andy Martin, New Hampshire
Peter Messina, Florida
George Pataki, New York
Rand Paul, Kentucky
Chomi Prag, Wisconsin
Joe Robinson, Massachusetts
Marco Rubio, Florida
Rick Santorum, Virginia
Donald Trump, New York
Richard P. H. Witz, Massachusetts

ARKANSAS

FLORIDA

MICHIGAN

X
X

X
X

X
X

X
X

X
X
X

X
X
X

X
X
X

X
X

X
X
X
X

X
X

X
X

X
X
X

X
X
X

X
X
X

X
X

X
X

NEW HAMP. SO. CAROLINA

X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
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X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
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X
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X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

____________________________________________________________
Ballot Access News, Bx 470296, San Francisco CA 94147 (415) 922-9779, richardwinger@yahoo.com

X
X
X
X

X
X
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X
X
X

X
X
X
X
X

December 1, 2015

Ballot Access News

CHART ON PAGE FIVE

The chart on page five lists candidates for the Democratic
and Republican nomination who have qualified for presidential primary ballots in the five states for which that information is available.

SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE RE-ELECTS ITS

SEATTLE CITY COUNCILMEMBER
On November 3, 2015, Seattle voters re-elected Kshama
Sawant to the city council. The election is non-partisan,
but it is well-known that she is a leader of Socialist Alternative Party. She received 53% against her lone opponent.

MINOR PARTIES WIN 14 PARTISAN

ELECTIONS ON NOVEMBER 3, 2015
Green Party: elected five nominees in partisan elections in
Connecticut. They are two Constables in New Canaan,
Hector Lopez and John Amarilios; a Constable in Redding,
Leif Smith; Mirna Martinez to the New London Board of
Education; and Joshua Kelly to the Zoning Appeals Board
in Waterford.
Libertarian Party: elected eight nominees to partisan office. The five Pennsylvanians are: Charles Broust, Auditor of Upper Frankford Township; William Dickerson,
Constable of Valley Township; James Foose, Constable of
North Manheim Township; Daniel Noll, Tremont Borough
Council; and Nelson Reppert, Cressona Borough Council.
Also three in Indiana: Larry Walters, Dublin Town Council; Susan Bell, Town Judge in Hagerstown; and Dennis
Denney, Shirley Town Council.
Veterans Party: Katie Lakes, Tax Collector of Montoursville, Pennsylvania.

During the last week of October 2015, Ralph Nader received some relief from the costs assessed against himin
2004 by the people who had challenged his Pennsylvania
petition. Pennsylvania state courts had awarded the challengers $81,102 under the unique Pennsylvania system that
says if a petition doesnt have enough valid signatures, the
petitioning candidate or group must pay large court costs.
Peter Camejo, Naders vice-presidential nominee in 2004,
had then paid $20,000. Nader had $30,000 seized from
one of his bank accounts and another $30,000, in another
bank, had been frozen ever since.
After the Pennsylvania scheme was held unconstitutional
on July 24, 2015, Naders attorney notified the 2004 challengers that the basis for the award against Nader no longer
exists. While there was no legal requirement that the challengers do anything about that, they did release the remaining $30,000.

SEVERAL PARTIES NOMINATE FOR

NATIONAL OFFICE LAST MONTH
The Cyber Party, which is running John McAfee for President, said its vice-presidential nominee is Ken Rutkowsi of
California. Rutkowski is host of the radio program Business Rockstars.
The Workers World Party said its presidential nominee
will be Monica Moorehead and its vice-presidential nominee will be Lamont Lilly.
The American Freedom Party, which had already announced its presidential nominee, said its vice-presidential
nominee will be Tom Bowie.
The Independent American Party said its presidential
nominee will be Farley Anderson; no v-p has been announced yet.

RALPH NADER GETS SOME RELIEF FROM

PENNSYLVANIA COURT COSTS

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