Lendall v. Jernigan II: Ballot access in Illinois, Arkansas
The Illinois Legislature extended its session last week, but it looks unlikely that they'll enact a meaningful ballot access measure this session. Like Arkansas, they've been legislating (and litigating) the issue of thid party and independent ballot access recently.
Assuming the Ill. governor signs HB426, their primary will be on February 5, which puts the independent candidate deadline there at the end of October 2007 (92 days). In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a decision of the Eastern District of Arkansas. Chief Judge Eisele held that the statutory requirement that independent candidates for state office file a petition signed by 10% of qualified electors, when considered in connection with 60-day period allowed for obtaining signatures, violated federal constitutional standards. That case is Lendall v Jernigan, 424 F. Supp. 951 (E.D. Ark. 1977).
Act 821 of 2007 in Arkansas establishes new rules for new political parties to meet when gathering signatures of registered voters to qualify a candidate for the statewide ballot. The new law requires 10,000 signatures to be obtained within 60 days -- we changed it back to the same amount of days in the previous statute that the U.S. Supreme Court found unconstitutional. The number of signatures doesn't alarm me as much as the short time period allowed to obtain them -- that was the basis of my no vote. Previous Arkansas law required new political parties to gather signatures that amount to 3 percent of the number of votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election but also allows signatures to be gained over a 150-day period. The 3-percent rule would've required 23,000 signatures based on the turnout in the 2006 governor’s vote, so the new law does make some headway. The 2007 legislation in Arkansas was prompted by a the late Judge George Howard's ruling that it was unconstitutional for the state to set a higher signature requirement for third-party candidates than the threshold set for independent candidates.
Assuming the Ill. governor signs HB426, their primary will be on February 5, which puts the independent candidate deadline there at the end of October 2007 (92 days). In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court summarily affirmed a decision of the Eastern District of Arkansas. Chief Judge Eisele held that the statutory requirement that independent candidates for state office file a petition signed by 10% of qualified electors, when considered in connection with 60-day period allowed for obtaining signatures, violated federal constitutional standards. That case is Lendall v Jernigan, 424 F. Supp. 951 (E.D. Ark. 1977).
Act 821 of 2007 in Arkansas establishes new rules for new political parties to meet when gathering signatures of registered voters to qualify a candidate for the statewide ballot. The new law requires 10,000 signatures to be obtained within 60 days -- we changed it back to the same amount of days in the previous statute that the U.S. Supreme Court found unconstitutional. The number of signatures doesn't alarm me as much as the short time period allowed to obtain them -- that was the basis of my no vote. Previous Arkansas law required new political parties to gather signatures that amount to 3 percent of the number of votes cast in the previous gubernatorial election but also allows signatures to be gained over a 150-day period. The 3-percent rule would've required 23,000 signatures based on the turnout in the 2006 governor’s vote, so the new law does make some headway. The 2007 legislation in Arkansas was prompted by a the late Judge George Howard's ruling that it was unconstitutional for the state to set a higher signature requirement for third-party candidates than the threshold set for independent candidates.
posted by Steve Harrelson @ 6/09/2007 11:41:00 AM | Permalink |
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