Source: Ballot Access News

On April 10, the Maine Supreme Court again heard oral arguments in Nader v The Maine Democratic Party, Wash-10-678. Here is an article about the arguments. The issue is still whether or not Ralph Nader is entitled to a trial in his case against the Democratic Party and its allies for its behavior in 2004, trying to keep him off the ballot in as many states as possible. Here is another article. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The Maine bill that would provide for Ranked-Choice Voting for statewide races, both federal and state, is now introduced and is LD 518. Thanks to Rob Richie for this news.

Click here to read Ballot Access News comments on this article

Source: Ballot Access News

See this story about the legal status of Americans Elect in Maine. Soon, the Maine Secretary of State will be notifying all Americans Elect registrants that their party did not retain its spot on the ballot. These voters will be given a chance to re-register, but those who don’t respond will automatically be converted to independent voters. Americans Elect only had 58 registered members as of November 2012. Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

On January 28, Massachusetts Representative Dan Winslow (R-Norfolk) will introduce two bills to improve ballot access. One lowers the number of signatures for candidates for federal and state office, by cutting the current requirements in half. That bill affects candidates seeking a place on a partisan primary ballot, or candidates petitioning directly onto the general election ballot. The statewide petition requirement for the more important statewide offices (U.S. Senator, Governor) would fall from 10,000 Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

David Rea has this op-ed in the Auburn, Maine Sun Journal, advocating that the Maine legislature pass the pending bills that would use Ranked-Choice Voting. Rea is an educator and author in Boulder, Colorado. He actually argues for any form of multi-choice voting, which could include preference voting as well as Ranked-Choice voting. Thanks to Steve Chessin for the link.

Also, here is a somewhat similar op-ed in The Daily Campus, the student publication at the University Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

This article describes a meeting that Maine Governor Paul LePage held with the three independent members of the Maine legislature who do not caucus with either major party. Although the thrust of the article is that the meeting did not go very cordially, a more important point is that the Governor at least met with the independents. Also it is significant that three of the four independents in the Maine legislature have their own caucus, and do not caucus with either major party. Thanks to Thomas Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

In November 2012, individuals in both Maine and California filed paperwork to make sure that write-ins for Ron Paul for President would be counted. Both states let a group of presidential elector candidates file as declared write-ins, and neither state requires permission from either the presidential candidate or the vice-presidential candidate that these electors are pledged to. Maine tallied 2,035 Ron Paul write-ins, which, of course, technically were in favor of the group of presidential elector candidates Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Earlier this month, Maine’s Secretary of State released a new registration tally, as of November 6, 2012. When compared with the previous tally (from June 2012) the new tally shows that the two minor parties tallied by the state grew at a faster rate than any other type of voters.

The June 2012 tally showed: independents 337,535 (36.46%), Democrats 297,445 (32.13%), Republicans 258,463 (27.92%), Greens 32,315 (3.49%), American Elect 58 (.006%). Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

The November 2012 election returns for state legislative candidates reveal that the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Parties each had a handful of state legislative nominees who polled at least 30% of the vote.

For the Constitution Party, the only legislative nominee who polled as much as 30% was Gregory Hughes, who polled 31.29% in Nevada’s First Senate District against a Democrat. The district is in Las Read more »

Source: Ballot Access News

Maine State Senator Dick Woodbury (I-Yarmouth) and Representative Janice Cooper (D-Yarmouth) have introduced a bill to use Instant-Runoff Voting for gubernatorial elections. See this detailed story. The bill proposes a change in the State Constitution.

Click here to read Ballot Access News comments on this article