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Ballot access rules, called nomination rules outside the US, regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. An election is a Decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual to hold formal office Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions Sortition, also known as allotment, is an equal-chance method of selection by some form of lottery such as drawing coloured pebbles from a bag A by-election or bye-election (called special election in the United States) is an Election held to fill a political office that has become vacant Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an Election. A show election or a sham election is an Election that is held purely for show that is without any significant political purpose A Fixed-term election is an Election that occurs on a set date and cannot be changed by the incumbent politician A general election is an Election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election A primary election ( nominating primary) also referred to simply as a primary, is an election in which voters in a Jurisdiction select candidates Indirect election is a process in which voters in an Election do not actually choose between candidates for an office but rather elect persons who will then make the choice Local Elections vary widely across Jurisdictions In Electoral systems that roughly follow the Westminster model, a terminology has evolved A referendum (plural referendums or referenda) ballot question, or plebiscite (from Latin plebiscita Apportionment is the process of allocating political power among a set of principles (or defined constituencies In multiple-party democratic primary elections crossover voting refers to a technique used by voters in which ballots are cast for the party a voter is opposed to in order to elect Gerrymandering is a form of redistribution in which electoral district or Constituency boundaries are manipulated for electoral advantage Redistricting, a form of redistribution, is the process of changing of political Borders in the United States The secret ballot is a voting method in which a Voter 's choices are confidential Suffrage (from the Latin suffragium, meaning "voting tablet" and figuratively "right to vote" probably from suffrago "hough" and originally A political party is a Political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within Government, usually by participating in electoral A voting system allows voters to choose between options often in an Election where candidates are selected for public office. Elections by country gives information on Elections For each De jure and De facto sovereign state and dependent territory The list of election results by country gives information on Elections For each De jure and De facto sovereign state and The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A political party is a Political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within Government, usually by participating in electoral A ballot is a device (originally a small ball—see blackball) used to record choices made by Voters Each voter uses one ballot and ballots are not Laws restricting which names may appear on the ballot have an obvious impact on the rights of candidates and political parties, but such laws also affect the rights of voters.

Contents

Ballot access in Australia

Australia

"Ballot access" is listed under "Nomination" in this country. This article deals with elections to the Australian Parliament. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system. For elections to the Australian Parliament see the Australian electoral system.

Ballot access in Canada

Candidates in elections to the House of Commons must obtain a number of signatures from the riding they are standing in - either 50 or 100 depending on the riding. The House of Commons (Chambre des communes is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign (represented by the Governor General) and An electoral district (also known as a Constituency or a riding in the Canadian English political Jargon) is a geographically-based They must also pay a deposit of CAD 1000, which can be reclaimed. [1]

Ballot access in the European Union

EU member states may set their own rules on ballot access in elections to the European Parliament. Elections in the European Union take place every five years by universal adult suffrage. The European Parliament ( Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU In Denmark, Germany, Greece, Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Czech Republic, candidates must be nominated by political parties. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Greece (Ελλάδα transliterated: Elláda, historically, Ellás,) officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, In the other member states, a specified number of signatures is needed. In the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, a deposit is required as well as signatures. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located [2] In Ireland, candidates may be nominated either by a registered political party or by 30 members of the relevant electorate. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world [3]

Ballot access in France

Candidates for the office of President of the Republic require 500 signatures of elected individuals (mayors, MPs, regional councillors).

Ballot access in the United Kingdom

A candidate for election to the United Kingdom Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly or Northern Ireland assembly requires the signed assent of ten registered electors, plus a deposit of £500 which is forfeited if the candidate wins less than 5% of the vote. The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories The Scottish Parliament ( Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba; Scots: Scottish Pairlament) is the devlolved national unicameral The National Assembly for Wales (Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru is a devolved assembly with power to make legislation in Wales. Northern Ireland (Tuaisceart Éireann Ulster Scots: Norlin Airlann) is a Country within the United Kingdom, lying in the northeast of

A list of candidates for election in a European Parliament constituency does not require the assent of any electors but must pay a deposit of £5,000, which is forfeited if that list wins less than 2. The European Parliament ( Europarl or EP) is the only directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU 5% of the vote.

A candidate for local government office does not need to pay a deposit (except for mayoral elections, for which the deposit is £500), but need the assent of either two registered electors (for parish or town elections) or ten registered electors (for all other local elections). A Parish council is a unit of Local government in Great Britain.

Ballot access in the United States of America

Overview of ballot access in the U. S.

Each state has its own ballot access laws to determine who may appear on ballots and who may not. A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government According to Article I, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, the authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of federal elections is up to each State, unless Congress legislates otherwise. Article One of the United States Constitution describes the powers of the legislative branch of the United States government, known as Congress The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States.

The main rationale put forward by States for restricting ballot access has been the usual argument that setting ballot access criteria too low would result in numerous frivolous candidates cluttering the ballot, which would cause confusion and waste the time of voters. However, proponents of ballot access reform say that reasonably easy access to the ballot does not lead to a glut of candidates, and that, even where many candidates do appear on the ballot, as was the case in the crowded 2003 California recall, actual election results show that such crowding does not in fact confuse voters. The 2003 California recall election was a special Election permitted under California law

Historically, there were generally no restrictions on ballot access in the United States until after the introduction of the so-called "Australian ballot" beginning in the 1880s. The secret ballot is a voting method in which a Voter 's choices are confidential The eighteenth century prevalence of "voice voting" gave way to paper ballots, but until the 1880s paper ballots were not officially designed and printed by the government but were instead privately produced "tickets" that were distributed (usually by political parties) to the voter, who would take the ticket to the polling place and deposit it in the ballot box. The 1880s reform movement that led to officially designed secret ballots had some salutary effects, but it also gave the government control over who could be on the ballot. As historian Peter Argersinger has pointed out, the reform that conferred power on officials to regulate who may be on the ballot carried with it the danger that this power would be abused by officialdom and that legislatures controlled by the established political parties (specifically, the Republican and Democratic Parties), would enact restrictive ballot access laws to influence election outcomes, for partisan purposes, in order to ensure re-election of their own party's candidates. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party.

Perhaps the most prominent advocate of the 1880s ballot reform movement, Dean Wigmore, suggested that "ten signatures" might be an appropriate requirement for nomination to the official ballot for a legislative office. In the twentieth century, ballot access laws imposing signature requirements far more restrictive than Wigmore had envisioned were enacted by many state legislatures, often in response to election victories by Socialists, Communists, or other disfavored political organizations; in almost all of these cases, the two major parties framed the laws in such a way that the burdens created by these new ballot access requirements (usually in the form of difficult signature-gathering petition drives) fell on alternative candidates, but not on major party candidates. Proponents of more open ballot access argue that restricting access to the ballot has the effect of unjustly restricting the choices available to the voters and typically disadvantages third party candidates and other candidates who are not affiliated with the established parties. See also Third party (United States presidential candidates 2008 The term third party is used in the United States for a political party other than one

State laws, the Constitution, and international human rights

President George H. W. Bush signed in good faith and in the name of the United States the Copenhagen Document of the Helsinki Accords that states in part:

"(7. 5) - respect the right of citizens to seek political or public office, individually or as representatives of political parties or organizations, without discrimination;

(7. 6) - respect the right of individuals and groups to establish, in full freedom, their own political parties or other political organizations and provide such political parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law and by the authorities;. . . "

The United States has been criticized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe for its harsh ballot access laws in the past. In 1996, United States delegates responded to the criticism by saying, unfair ballot access "could be remedied through existing appeal and regulatory structures and did not represent a breach of the Copenhagen commitments. " [4].

The OSCE published a report on the 2004 United States election, which, among other things, noted the harsh ballot access laws [5]. Yet, there has been little effort to try and change the law.

Since 1985, Democrats and Republicans (i. Year 1985 ( MCMLXXXV) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar) e. Congressman John Conyers (D-Mi. ), Congressman Tim Penny (D-Mn. ) and Congressman Ron Paul in 1997 (R-Tx)) have perodicially introduced a bill that would ensure fair and equitable ballot access law for United States House elections. The bill was voted on, for the first time, by the House in 1998 and lost by a vote 62-363 [6]. As of 2007, the current version of this bill is HR 3600. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.

The interest group Friends of Democracy, has also introduced a proposed "Voting Rights Amendment", which would address many election law reform issues.

State ballot access laws

Ballot access laws in the United States vary widely from state to state. A brief outline of such laws follows (incomplete).

Activists of the Arizona Green Party collecting signatures for ballot status.
Activists of the Arizona Green Party collecting signatures for ballot status. The Green Party of Arizona (AZGP is the state party organization for Arizona of the Green Party of the United States.
See also: Qualified New York Parties

Constitutional dimensions of ballot access laws

State ballot access restrictions can affect fundamental constitutional rights, including:

It has also been argued that ballot access restrictions infringe the following constitutional rights:

(NB: to be completed)

From a structural point of view, ballot access restrictions affect the most fundamental rights in a democratic society. The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall… deny to any person The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Due process (more fully due process of law) is the principle that a person has a right to receive notice and be heard in an orderly proceeding in order to protect his or her The right to petition is the freedom of individuals (and sometimes groups and corporations to Petition their government for a correction or repair of some form of Freedom Constitutional or statutory protections pertaining to freedom of the press A republic is a State or Country that is not led by a hereditary Monarch, but in which the people (or at least a part of its people have impact on its (NB: to be completed)

The United States Supreme Court has upheld constitutional challenges to ballot access restrictions in a number of important cases, for example:

Various state courts and lower federal courts have also upheld constitutional challenges to ballot access restrictions, for example:

(NB: to be completed)

On the other hand, a number of court decisions are routinely cited as supporting the principle that states have considerable leeway, if justified by legitimate and compelling interests, to regulate who may appear on the ballot. The Supreme Court case cited most often this effect is Jenness v. Fortson, 403 U. S. 431 (1971), where the Court declined to strike down a very restrictive ballot access law in Georgia. The law in question required third party candidates seeking a nomination petition to obtain signatures no less than 5% of eligible voters in the previous election for that particular office. [11]In most states, the requirement is less than 2%[12].

International human rights law and ballot access

International agreements that have the status of treaties of the U. S. are part of the supreme law of the land, under Article VI of the United States Constitution.

Another source of international human rights law derives from universally accepted norms that have found expression in resolutions of the U. N. General Assembly. Although the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is not binding under U. S. law the way a treaty is, this type of norm is recognized as a source of international law in such treaties as the Statute of the International Court of Justice, to which the U. S. is a party:

(NB: to be completed)

Write-in status versus ballot access

Depending on the office and the state, it may be possible for a voter to cast a write-in vote for a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot; but, it is extremely rare for such a candidate to win office. A write-in candidate is a candidate in an Election whose name does not appear on the Ballot, but for whom voters may Vote nonetheless by writing in the In some cases, write-in votes are simply not counted. Having one's name printed on the ballot confers an enormous advantage over candidates who are not on the ballot. The United States Supreme Court has noted that write-in status is absolutely no substitute for being on the ballot. One of the rare cases, and perhaps the most notable case, of a write-in candidate actually winning an election was Strom Thurmond's election as a write-in candidate to the United States Senate in 1954. James Strom Thurmond ( December 5, 1902 – June 26, 2003) was an American politician who served as governor of South Carolina and The United States Senate is the Upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the Lower house being the House of Representatives More recent examples were the write-in election of Charlotte Burks to the Tennessee State Senate seat of her late husband, Tommy Burks, murdered by his only opponent on the ballot, and the write-in primary victories in the re-election campaign of Mayor Anthony A. Williams of the District of Columbia. Charlotte Gentry Burks (born October 3, 1942) is a Farmer and Democratic party Politician in Tennessee, U The Tennessee Senate is the Upper house of the Tennessee state Legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly Tommy Burks ( May 22, 1940 &ndash October 19, 1998) was a Farmer and Democratic party politician in Tennessee "Lowtax" redirects here For the Something Awful website founder see Something Awful. Anthony Allen "Tony" Williams (born July 28 1951, in Los Angeles California) is an American Politician who served Washington DC ( formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D Each of these cases involved unique political circumstances, a popular and well-known candidate, and a highly organized and well-funded write-in education campaign.

Other obstacles facing third parties

The growth of any third political party in the United States faces extremely challenging obstacles, among them restrictive ballot access. Other obstacles often cited as barriers to third-party growth include:

See also

External links

References

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