ACLUM Files Suit Seeking Ballot Place for Third Party Candidates

Massachusetts Elections Division refuses to place names of Libertarian Party’s nominees for President and Vice President on November ballot

BOSTON – In a lawsuit aimed at ensuring the franchise for Massachusetts voters, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has filed suit seeking ballot access on behalf of Bob Barr and Wayne A. Root, the candidates of the national Libertarian Party for President and Vice President of the United States. Despite earlier indicating that it would do so, the Massachusetts Elections Division has refused to place the names of the Libertarian Party’s nominees on the ballot.

“The central issue in this case is the restriction of ballot access for third parties, which has been and continues to be a problem in Massachusetts,” said John Reinstein, Legal Director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, a non-partisan civil liberties organization.

“The right of political parties or candidates to a place on the ballot bears directly on the right of citizens to vote. If parties or candidates are kept off the ballot, their adherents are compelled to vote for representatives other that those of their choice,” said Reinstein. “The denial of a place on the ballot thus constitutes a deprivation of the franchise.”

In July 2007, Dr. George Phillies, the leading Massachusetts candidate of the Libertarian Party, wrote to the Massachusetts Elections Division to explain that he foresaw a potential problem: required signature gathering for placement on the Massachusetts ballot needed to begin before the national Libertarian Party’s nominating convention on May 25, 2008. Phillies asked about the possibility of substituting the name of the final Libertarian Party candidate on the ballot if the nominee selected at the party’s convention differed from the one submitted at the time of the signature-gathering deadline.

The Massachusetts Election Division responded:

If the Libertarian Party seeks to substitute a candidate for President who they already got signatures for on nominating papers, our Office can prepare a form that allows members of the party to request the substitution of the candidate.

At the national Libertarian Party’s nominating convention on May 25, 2008, the party selected former U.S. Congressman Bob Barr as its nominee for president, and Wayne A. Root as its vice presidential nominee. Dr. Phillies, who finished fifth, re-contacted the Massachusetts Elections Division to inform them of the need for substitution. On June 5, 2008, the Division denied this request, stating that the party would need to repeat the process of signature gathering to place new names on the ballot.

“The Libertarian Party sought to head off this problem well in advance. We are in this situation because we received mixed messages from the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s office,” said Dr. Phillies.

“Requiring smaller political parties to re-gather signatures for their final nominees is a significant and burdensome expense and thus serves as a barrier to their full participation in the electoral process,” said Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “We urge the Massachusetts Elections Division to ensure the right to vote by returning to its prior stance of allowing substitution of the final nominees on the ballot.”

The plaintiffs in the suit are represented by ACLUM cooperating attorneys at the firm of Foley Hoag LLP, and by John Reinstein, Legal Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.

News: Legislature blocks voter ID plan for Lawrence

Ed Mason of the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune cites ACLU opposition in this story about the demise of a plan to require showing an ID to vote.

News: City takes another shot at voter ID requirement

This article in the Lawrence Eagle Tribune examines the issue of voter ID requirements, and quotes Chris Ott, Communications Manager for the ACLU of Massachusetts. Advocates say checking IDs is necessary to prevent voter fraud.

The ACLU's position is that there is little to no real evidence of fraud being committed, and that requiring an ID just prevents and discourages people from exercising a fundamental right.

News: Interview with Nancy Murray, our Director of Education

After the release last week of the ACLU's new report Race & Ethnicity in America: Turning a Blind Eye to Injustice, reporter Mary Thang of New England Ethnic News talked to Nancy Murray, Director of Education for the ACLU of Massachusetts, about ongoing racial discrimination in America and US government attempts to "whitewash" the problem.  Thang's interview with Murray is available here.

Press Release: ACLU and Disability Law Center Applaud Secretary Galvin’s Decision on New Voting Technology

BOSTON – The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts and the Disability Law Center today again joined forces to applaud Secretary of State William F. Galvin’s decision to approve the use in Massachusetts elections of a ballot marking voting machine that is both accessible and secure.

“Voting equipment that is both accessible and secure is essential to ensuring the integrity of the entire elections system in the Commonwealth,” said Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. “The Secretary’s decision to fund an automatic ballot marking system best ensures that Massachusetts voters with disabilities – and thus all voters – are guaranteed equal access to a secure ballot.”

Stanley J. Eichner, Executive Director of the Disability Law Center, also welcomed the Secretary’s decision. “The automatic ballot marking device has consistently received the highest overall ratings from the disability community,” he said. “Providing secure voting machines for voters with disabilities is part and parcel of protecting their rights to equal access to the ballot and to having their votes reliably counted.”

In January, the ACLU of Massachusetts and the Disability Law Center urged the Secretary to fund the ballot marking machines and to avoid purchasing direct electronic recording (DRE) systems. Although both types of voting technology had been certified for use in Massachusetts, only one technology is to receive state funding under the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002.

From an accessibility perspective, the automatic ballot marking device permits disabled voters to use Braille, jelly buttons, a puff-sip interface and audio technology to mark a paper ballot, which can be counted by optical scan or by hand. In contrast, the direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machines both mark and count votes, and are considered by many voting security experts to be prone to error and vulnerable to tampering.

“DREs are susceptible to both intentional system-wide tampering and accidental ‘bugs,’ since a single programmer at a DRE manufacturer could conceivably change the code in many or all of the DRE products without detection,” said Rose. “DREs also carry the danger of statistical tampering—changing the software to miscount an undetectable, but significant, number of votes in favor of, or against, one party or candidate or issue.”

“The decision by the Secretary shows that it is both possible and essential to build common ground between the disability rights community and the growing number of citizens who are concerned that many of the proposed new technologies are subject to tampering and error,” said Eichner. “We must debunk the myth that we have to choose between accessible voting and verifiable voting. Democracy requires that we have both.”

To read the letter to Sec. Galvin, go to www.aclum.org/news/ACLUM_DLC-Galvin.pdf and www.dlc.org.

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