Posted on 12/27/2003 2:00:23 PM PST by freepatriot32
West Virginia Libertarians received an early Christmas present when a federal judge in Clarksburg struck down a confusing state law that made it more difficult to convince voters to sign ballot-access petitions.
On December 23, U.S. District Court Judge Irene Keeley ordered the secretary of state's office to stop enforcing a law that made it illegal for state residents who sign a third-party candidate's petition to vote in the state's next primary election.
In 1999, the state legislature had dropped the legal penalties for signing such a petition and then voting in a primary -- but kept the language that required prospective petition signers to be told they couldn't vote in the primary.
As a result, West Virginia residents were reluctant to sign ballot-access petitions for third-party candidates, which created an unfair burden for alternative parties trying to qualify for the state ballot, ruled Keeley.
The law as written is "arguably a legal fiction," she wrote, and creates "irreparable harm" to the First Amendment rights of third-party candidates.
"The irrationality of this law is patent and militates against its necessity," she wrote.
In most states, petitioners can usually collect one signature for every three or four voters approached, Libertarians had testified in court in early December. But in West Virginia, because of the so-called primary screen-out law, they frequently had to ask 20 or 30 people to get one signature.
LP State Chair Richard Kerr told the Associated Press that he was "delighted" with the ruling.
"This will broaden the spectrum of political debate, and it will broaden the choice of political philosophies that people can vote [for]," he said.
In a minor setback for the Libertarian Party, the judge also upheld another provision of the law that requires petition circulators to obtain credentials from the state before collecting signatures.
That requirement helps avoid election fraud and lets petitioners know they will be held accountable for their behavior, wrote Keeley.
However, Keeley said the state cannot require petitioners to put personal information -- such as an address or telephone number -- on the credential badges they must wear when soliciting signatures.
Kelley also said that petitioners must be allowed to apply for credentials by phone or fax, rather than being required to apply in person.
The in-person rule placed "substantial obstacles in the paths of volunteer canvassers, who are the lifeblood of minor-party campaigns," she wrote.
The West Virginia LP had filed a lawsuit against the two laws on August 29. In the lawsuit, they said the laws violate the First and Fourteenth amendments, which protect the rights of free speech and free association.
On December 5, Kerr and would-be LP gubernatorial candidate Simon McClure testified against the primary notification provision in court. They argued that the intent of the law was to make it harder for third-party challengers to qualify for the ballot.
"The whole process of making it difficult is to preserve the near monopoly the two parties have, and to discourage the introduction of new ideas," Kerr told the Associated Press. "[The politicians in power] find it annoying when a non-Republican or non-Democrat is on the ballot."
To qualify for the general election ballot, the LP must collect signatures from registered voters equal to at least 2% of the votes cast for governor in the last election -- or about 13,000 signatures.
In the 2000 election, the West Virginia LP had fielded almost 20 candidates, who won a total of about 140,000 votes.
Would you support proportional or preferential voting?
BS. The Election Fraud Party (need I name names?) gets listed on the ballot without having to collect any signatures.
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