The Battle to Get on the Ballot
A more perfect democracy for the United
States requires a shift to a more proportional electoral system; it also requires a better
system of financing election campaigns. But even those two fundamental reforms are not
sufficient by themselves. The United States, alone among the world's nations, also badly
needs ballot access reform.
Very few people are aware of the ballot
access problem in the United States. Each state writes its own ballot access laws, even
for federal office. Since there is no single standard for the whole nation, the public and
even the media are ignorant about ballot access laws. By contrast, the campaign spending
laws (for federal office) are uniform for the entire nation, leading to the strengths and
weaknesses of the campaign spending laws for federal office being familiar to the press
and most political activists.
Little-known ballots access laws
How bad are the ballot access laws?
Consider these little-known facts:
1) Even Democrats and Republicans
sometimes have a difficult time getting on the ballot in some states. In one-third of
all state legislative general election, there is only one candidate on the ballot for each
seat. Even congressional elections are sometimes one-candidate affairs: in 1990, for
example, one of the two major parties didn't run anyone in U.S. Senate races in Arkansas,
Georgia, Mississippi and Virginia.
Among the barriers for Republicans and
Democrats are the high number of signatures needed to get on primary ballots (especially
true in Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and New York), excessive filing fees (7% of
the annual salary in Florida, which amounts to over $8,000 for Congressional candidates)
and hyper-technical petition requirements (New York). Also, Arkansas still requires
parties to pay for their own primaries in 69 of its 75 counties, and forbids a party from
nominating anyone except by primary; this prevents the Republican Party from contesting
even one-fourth of Arkansas legislative seats.
2) The ballot access barriers for
Republicans and Democrats are nothing compared to the hurdles faced by other candidates.
The ballot access laws for new and minor parties to get on the ballot for Congress are so
tough, that not since 1920 has any third party been able to place candidates for the U.S.
House of Representatives on the ballot in even half of the districts! Consider barriers in
the following states:
• Georgia: The legislature
passed a law in 1943 requiring that new party and independent candidates submit a petition
signed by 5% of the number of registered voters in order to get on the ballot for any
office. Previously, any party could get on the ballot just by requesting it. The result
has been that since 1943, there has not been one third party candidate on the Georgia
ballot for U.S. House of Representatives.
• Florida: The ballot access
laws for third parties and independent candidates have been very severe ever since 1931.
Since 1931, there have been only two third party candidates for the U.S. House of
Representatives on the ballot and only one third party candidate for the U.S. Senate.
There has not been a third party or independent candidate on the ballot for Governor of
Florida since 1920. Currently, a filing fee of 7% of the annual salary of the office is
also required unless the candidate is a pauper, while a third party or independent
candidate for any statewide office (other than president) needs 196,255 valid signatures
-- no independent candidate in any state in the U.S. has ever successfully complied with a
signature requirement greater than 134,781 signatures.
• Arkansas: The legislature
passed a law in 1971 providing that new parties could not get on the ballot unless they
submit a petition signed by a number of voters equal to 7% of the last vote cast. Because
this law in 1977 was held unconstitutional (courts have since held that petition
requirements cannot exceed 5% of the electorate), the legislature changed it to 3%. No
political party has ever succeeded in getting on the Arkansas ballot, under either the 7%
or the 3% rule -- partly because the state requires that the petition be completed in the
four months during the odd year before an election year.
• West Virginia: Third party
and independent candidates for office (other than president) must circulate their petition
before the primary. It is a crime for any petition circulator to approach anyone without
saying "If you sign my petition, you cannot vote in the primary." The law can be
enforced because it is illegal for anyone to circulate a petition without first obtaining
"credentials" from election officials for this purpose. Furthermore, it is
impossible for third party or independent candidates (not running for president) to ever
know in advance if they have enough valid signatures because if anyone who signs a
candidate's petition then votes in a primary, the signature of that person is invalid. For
candidates, it is impossible to know who will actually vote in the primary, and it is too
late to get signatures after the primary.
Better Ballot Access Abroad
Great Britain and Canada can be criticized
for their "winner-take-all" system. However, at least ballot access in those
countries is equitable and fairly tolerant. In the most recent national elections in both
countries, there were four or more parties on the ballot in a majority of parliamentary
districts. Ballot access rules are the same for all parties in Great Britain and Canada.
In Britain and Canada, it is possible for
observers to tally up the popular vote for each party, across the whole nation, and
compare the share of any party's share of the popular vote with its share of seats in
Parliament. In the United States, we haven't even achieved that level of expression in the
election system. The United States needs a more proportional system of voting and reform
of the campaign spending laws. The U.S. also needs ballot access reform.
Richard Winger is editor and publisher
of the monthly newsletter Ballot Access News. For more information, contact: P.O.
Box 470296, San Francisco, CA 94147 (415) 922-9779.