Monthly Archives: December 2012

Deadline Looming For Ballot Access Reform Bill; Needs Senate Sponsor

by

Oklahoma Legislators must introduce all bills for the 2013 Legislative Session by December 14th, 2012 in order to be heard. This means that if a Ballot Access Reform bill is to be introduced, it must be done in the next few days or it must wait till 2014. This bill should not have to wait that long.

According to the Libertarian Facebook page, this bill needs a Senator to introduce it before that time.

Oklahoma legislature deadline: 14 Dec.
We need a Senator to agree to introduce a Ballot Access Reform Bill (Title 26-1-108.2). Eliminate the 5% requirement. Prior to 1974 petition only required 5000 valid signatures. Not the number requires more that 50,000. Due to validity issues you have to add 30% more. Can you help?

The House has a member that is willing to introduce a reform bill, but only if the bill can be introduced in the Senate as well. If a bill is not introduced in both houses, then it is dead in the water and this House member would not want to waste one of his eight allotments on a bill that has zero chance of being heard.

So we are putting out the request that you contact your State Senator and ask him or her to introduce such a bill for this session. Please do so in the next few days as the deadline is less than a week away.

If you have any questions of who your State Senator is, visit the “Find My Legislature” page and enter your adress. This page will tell you who your State Representative, State Senator and US Congressman are as well as provide their names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

Americans Elect No Longer A Recognized Political Party In Oklahoma

by

Prior to the 2012 Presidential election, of all the parties that petitioned for ballot access, only one was able to gather the 51,739 valid signatures required. That party was the Americans Elect Party. Unfortunately, the national party never fielded a candidate and attempts by the state branch to place Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson on the ballot failed.

This failure to field a candidate for the presidential election has resulted in the State Election Board voting to no longer recognize the Americans Elect Party in the state. This leaves the state of Oklahoma with only the Republican and Democratic parties as recognized political parties. Those 18 who were registered as Americans Elect will have their voter registration changed to show as Independent.

In support of the decision, Assistant Attorney General Neal Leader wrote:

The 10 percent requirement … is applicable to all recognized political parties, and a party’s decision not to field candidates at a general election does not vary the requirement.

Unfortunately, this may not be accurate. According to Oklahoma law, recognized parties are those that meet the following definition:

§26 1 107. Recognized political parties.

Recognized political parties shall include parties whose candidates’ names appeared on the General Election ballot in 1974, and those parties which shall be formed according to law.

If this is accurate, it means that the Democratic and Republican parties are not required to maintain the 10% general election vote requirement because they were the only parties to field candidates in that election. However, this has not yet been applied to those two parties as neither has yet to receive fewer than 10% of the vote. You can expect that if this section stands and one of those parties were to fall below that requirement, there will be legal challenges as this section would seem to violate the 14th Amendment.

None of this makes the fact that once again Oklahoma voters have their choices in coming elections artificially restricted any easier to swallow. The failure to not just field a candidate, but to also require those candidates that are on the ballot meet a 10% vote requirement weakens voter confidence in the state of Oklahoma. It makes it far more difficult for a political party to build a successful presence in the state if that party is not given more than one election to build a base of support.

This news highlights the need of passing ballot access reform happen soon. Please contact your State Representative and State Senator and demand that they pass Ballot Access Reform this coming Legislative session.

Oklahoman Petitioners Gain Moderate Reprieve Compared To Last Presidential Election

by

While not as easy as this past election year, petitioning requirements for the coming 2014 election season will be easier than it was for the 2010 election year. This is thanks to the lower voter turnout compared to previous presidential elections.

According to Ballot Access News:

Oklahoma requires a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast (for the office at the top of the ballot) to get a newly-qualifying party on the ballot. The number of voters voting for President in Oklahoma declined in 2012, compared to 2008. Also, the presidential vote in 2008 was lower in Oklahoma than it had been in 2004. This is somewhat surprising, because Oklahoma is not losing population.

 

For 2014, the state requires 66,744 signatures. While this is overwhelmingly burdensome, it is easier than the 2010 requirement, which was 73,134.

That is a far cry more than the 51,739 that the 2012 election required. Even with that 15,000 fewer requirement, this past election year saw a single political party earn ballot access, while several more failed to meet even that lower threshold. Which leaves the likelihood of any new parties gaining access for the gubernatorial election very unlikely.

The one positive to come from this is this evidence of the hardships new parties have gaining access to the ballot. If even under the lower requirements following a gubernatorial election it is near impossible to gain access, how much more impossible it is following a presidential election. If you look back through the years, you will see that the only times a new party has been able to gain access is in years following gubernatorial elections.

Hopefully, as we move into the new election cycle, we can use these truths and finally get reform passed in the State Legislature. Something this state desperately needs.