Reply #43: Maine Ballot Access Bill Gains Support [View All]

[Wilms]

Ballot Access News

Maine Ballot Access Bill Gains Support
March 10th, 2005
Richard Winger, Editorhttp://ballot-access.org/2005/03/10/maine-ballot-access-bill-gains-support/

A new ballot access bill in Maine, LD 1154 by Rep. Ken Lindell, is gaining support. The leader of the Democratic Party in the House, and the Governor, have indicated they support it. The other two ballot access improvement bills are now not expected to pass.

LD 1154 creates two tiers of qualified political parties in Maine. Large qualified parties would nominate by primary; small qualified parties would nominate by caucus. The bill does not yet include numerical requirements for either type of party, but it is anticipated that the Green Party would fall into the caucus-type of party. It is somewhat likely that a caucus-type of qualified party would be one that has registration membership of at least one-half of 1%.

Currently, the Green Party is a qualified party. But under current law, it must poll at least 5% for Governor in 2006 to retain its status. The party doesn’t necessarily want to run for Governor in 2006, and had been seeking an alternate definition of “party” to give it more flexibility.

http://ballot-access.org/2005/03/10/maine-ballot-access-bill-gains-support/