Alabama State Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster) has confirmed that he intends to again introduce a bill to lower the number of signatures for newly-qualifying parties, from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5%.
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The Missouri legislature in 1989 was incredibly hostile to ballot access reform. Our bill was presented in committee in the Senate. After the witnesses in favor spoke, Senator Webster said, “Only fruits and nuts are interested in this.” And no one else said one word. No member of the committee moved the bill. But, we kept re-introducing it, and finally in 1993 it was signed into law. The LP hasn’t had to petition in Missouri ever since. The Constitution Party is also safely on the ballot there.
Good luck, Paulie. Your task seems difficult at best.
Thanks for the statistic also. I think a lot of them only care about getting re-elected, but then maybe I am being too cynical. We’ll try our best and see.
Good points. However, the legislature has a large Republican majority, most of whom will probably not see the absence of Democrats or others from the ballot as a bad thing. We’ll see though. Maybe they can be shamed after all.
http://www.electproject.org/2014g is the link for 2014 turnout data. Alabama’s turnout was 32.6% of the eligible electorate.
Alabama, in last month’s election, had a U.S. Senate candidate with only one candidate on the ballot. The Democrats didn’t run anyone for U.S. Senate, and no minor party or independent candidate could get on the ballot. Even for Alabama, the specter of a one-candidate election for such an important office looks pretty bad. Also in 2014 Alabama was one of only five states with a Dem-Rep ballot monopoly for all the statewide offices. These are facts that weren’t available in previous sessions. Also it is worth noting that Alabama voter turnout in 2014 was shockingly low.
How many times has it been introduced, and what could or would make things go differently this time?
I’ll be lobbying to help pass this bill. Wish me luck, I’ll need it!