Episode 192: Ballot Access
L. Joy has been on a mission to get us to understand the nuts and bolts of how the government works. One thing a lot of folks probably are not clear on is ballot access. Ballot access are the rules that manage how candidates are able to appear on voters' ballots. To break down the particulars on ballot access, L. Joy brings political analyst Richard Winger to the front of the class.
Homework:
Read this POLITICO article on water access https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/06/colorado-river-drought-california-arizona-00044121
Check out Ballot Access News for ballot access information https://ballot-access.org/
Find out ballot access procedures in your state
Find out if there are there bills to ease ballot access in the works in your state
Our Guest:
Richard Winger is an advocate for more equitable laws allowing access to the ballot for minor parties. He has studied the history of ballot access laws in each state back to their beginnings in the 1890's. He has testified in approximately 400 constitutional ballot access cases. He founded Ballot Access News, a monthly print publication, in 1985.
Winger has been accepted as an expert on election law in federal courts in nine states. He serves on the editorial board of the Election Law Journal.
In 1985, along with several minor party representatives, Winger helped found the Coalition on Free and Open Elections (COFOE). The organization intended to coordinate action and provide mutual support among the various minor parties for efforts he believed would, in his view, liberalize ballot access laws through state legislatures as well as through the courts. COFOE briefly had the backing of the ACLU, and has sponsored various lawsuits and other initiatives through the years with mixed success. It has been concerned with urging enforcement of the Helsinki Accords in America, an international treaty on democratic practices which, according to some activists, America is believed to violate by its perceived restrictions on minor parties. COFOE meets annually with support from various minor parties.
Born in Antioch, California, in 1943, Winger graduated from the University of California, Berkeley as a political science major in 1966 and attended graduate school in political science at UCLA. He lives in San Francisco with his partner.
