Last week, a ballot access bill was introduced in the Ga House that is much more compact than Senator Shafer’s Voter Choice and Ballot Access Act. Where Senator Shafer’s bill allows ballot access at ALL levels once a political body gains statewide access, this bill makes it easier for political organizations to run candidates statewide – and thereby possibly gain statewide ballot access.
This bill is Rep Bobby Reece’s HB 1141. What this bill does is essentially cuts the number of signatures required for an organization to gain statewide ballot access by a whole order of magnitude. Instead of having to get 1% of registered voters for a statewide race (roughly 50,000 signatures, per Jason Pye), this bill says that a minimum of 5,000 signatures are needed. It also says that for any other office, the lesser of 5% of the registered voters in the district or 5,000 signatures is needed.
The first clause dramatically opens up statewide races for more genuine competition. Instead of having to have a statewide ground game already in place, a political organization can start in one area and grow from there. For example, if a new organization was founded in Lee County and could get roughly 1/3 of the 17,000 or so registered voters in Lee County to sign a petition to allow its candidate to run for State Superintendent of Schools, that candidate could be an “official” candidate for the job, and the new Party could work to extend its reach through the State with that candidate.
The second clause doesn’t open up much more than US Congress to this same scenario. For 5,000 to be less than 5%, you need 100,001 voters in the district. I’ve looked at the numbers available, and you really don’t hit those kinds of numbers of registered voters in the district until the US Congress level. Even State Senators typically have around 50,000 – 80,000 voters in their districts, which doesn’t meet the threshold.
This bill won’t do much for the Libertarian Party of Georgia, but it could provide just the opening other smaller parties, such as the Green Party, Constitution Party, and Modern Whig Party, need to gain a toehold in this State. Note that this bill does NOT give these or any other political organization statewide ballot access simply by getting the 5K signatures. It simply allows them to run individual candidates, who must then get 1% or more of the registered voters in the State to vote for them for their organization to gain statewide ballot access.
I think this bill is a solid step in the right direction for encouraging more competition in Georgia’s electoral systems, and I urge the General Assembly to pass this bill and Governor Perdue to sign it into law. This is about basic fairness in elections, and it is long due.
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Ballot Access Bill Introduced in Ga House!
Last week, a ballot access bill was introduced in the Ga House that is much more compact than Senator Shafer’s Voter Choice and Ballot Access Act. Where Senator Shafer’s bill allows ballot access at ALL levels once a political body gains statewide access, this bill makes it easier for political organizations to run candidates statewide – and thereby possibly gain statewide ballot access.
This bill is Rep Bobby Reece’s HB 1141. What this bill does is essentially cuts the number of signatures required for an organization to gain statewide ballot access by a whole order of magnitude. Instead of having to get 1% of registered voters for a statewide race (roughly 50,000 signatures, per Jason Pye), this bill says that a minimum of 5,000 signatures are needed. It also says that for any other office, the lesser of 5% of the registered voters in the district or 5,000 signatures is needed.
The first clause dramatically opens up statewide races for more genuine competition. Instead of having to have a statewide ground game already in place, a political organization can start in one area and grow from there. For example, if a new organization was founded in Lee County and could get roughly 1/3 of the 17,000 or so registered voters in Lee County to sign a petition to allow its candidate to run for State Superintendent of Schools, that candidate could be an “official” candidate for the job, and the new Party could work to extend its reach through the State with that candidate.
The second clause doesn’t open up much more than US Congress to this same scenario. For 5,000 to be less than 5%, you need 100,001 voters in the district. I’ve looked at the numbers available, and you really don’t hit those kinds of numbers of registered voters in the district until the US Congress level. Even State Senators typically have around 50,000 – 80,000 voters in their districts, which doesn’t meet the threshold.
This bill won’t do much for the Libertarian Party of Georgia, but it could provide just the opening other smaller parties, such as the Green Party, Constitution Party, and Modern Whig Party, need to gain a toehold in this State. Note that this bill does NOT give these or any other political organization statewide ballot access simply by getting the 5K signatures. It simply allows them to run individual candidates, who must then get 1% or more of the registered voters in the State to vote for them for their organization to gain statewide ballot access.
I think this bill is a solid step in the right direction for encouraging more competition in Georgia’s electoral systems, and I urge the General Assembly to pass this bill and Governor Perdue to sign it into law. This is about basic fairness in elections, and it is long due.