Tennessee ballot access win for smaller parties, state government won’t appeal

Rachel Hawkridge at LP blog, September 27:

“This is a victory not just for our party, but for all Tennesseans," said Stephen Collings, a 5th Congressional district candidate who represents both the Libertarian Party and U.S. Pirate Party, which advocates international copyright reform.

The decision, released Tuesday by U.S. District Judge William J. Haynes Jr., strikes down state laws dating back almost five decades. Those laws have forced almost all third-party candidates to identify themselves as "independents" on Tennessee ballots.

Read the entire story here, and the decision here.

Congratulations to the voters and the Libertarian Party of Tennessee! 

h/t Scott Williamson and Daniel Lewis.

and from Ballot Access News:

As previously reported, on September 20, a U.S. District Court in Tennessee declared that state’s ballot access laws for new and previously unqualified parties to be unconstitutional. The state has not filed a notice of appeal. It is to be expected that the 2011 session of the state legislature will pass a new, better law. The old law required a petition signed by 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, due four or five months before the August primary. The law said the petition was to say that the signers are members of the party whose petition they are signing.