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NASHVILLE Four years after the Libertarian Party of Tennessee filed its first lawsuit to get on the ballot, the group is still fighting for access in a state that has some of the most restrictive rules in the country for smaller political parties.

Since 2010, the Libertarians, the Green Party of Tennessee and the Constitution Party of Tennessee have been in near-constant litigation with the state. They have won several victories, and the legislature has changed the law slightly. But the parties say the hurdles for them to get their names on the ballot are still unreasonably high.

A 2010 federal court ruling in one of the cases stated that Tennessee was one of only two states where no third parties had qualified for the ballot over the previous decade.

Individual candidates can appear on Tennessees ballot simply by submitting a petition with 25 signatures, but they will appear as independents unless their parties have qualified to appear on the ballot as well. For a party to appear on the ballot, it must collect more than 40,000 signatures. If the party wants to stay on the ballot, one of its candidates must garner more than 80,000 votes.

A recent opinion from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in one of the cases says the ease with which an independent candidate can get on Tennessees ballot undermines the states argument that too many parties could result in voter confusion.

It is a puzzling proposition that voters should be less confused by a ballot listing numerous candidates without a party designation than by a similar ballot including party designations. The court goes on to say that a ballot with party designations at least, contains information helpful to distinguishing among lesser-known candidates.

Donn Janes, vice-chair of the Libertarian Party of Tennessee, said he believes the major parties intentionally make it difficult for minor parties.

Libertarians would erode some of the voter base for the Republican party, he said. I can see why they would want to keep us off the ballot.

A state Republican Party spokesman declined to comment. Ken Kollman, a political science professor at the University of Michigan, said it is clear that a strong Libertarian candidate in any state is going to hurt the Republicans.

He said both Republicans and Democrats have traditionally tried to limit the influence of third parties.

Originally posted here:
Third parties still fighting for ballot access in Tennessee

CEDAR RAPIDS | Some people might call it a gimmick, but David Snowden Overby, a self-described old liberal from the 60s, prefers to call his Election Day plan to pay people to vote for him guerrilla theater.

Overby, a Libertarian candidate in Iowa House 57 in Dubuque County, said he and his friends plan to stand outside polling places Nov. 4 to give a penny to anyone who promises to vote for him.

I want to make a point that the election system is corrupt, Overby, a former Charles City newspaper editor, said. If faceless PACs and other organizations can pay millions of dollars to buy elections, I can certainly give voters a penny. At least Im honest.

The U.S. Supreme Court has called campaign contributions free speech, Overby said, and this is taking it to its logical conclusions.

Although political action committees pumping millions of dollars into campaigns is legal, paying people at the polls isnt, according to Dubuque County Auditor Denise Dolan and the Iowa Secretary of State Office.

Overby and his friends could face a variety of charges.

Dolan hasnt discussed the situation with the Dubuque County attorney and said she doesnt plan to monitor polling places to see if Overby shows up.

If hes doing it, Ill hear about it from my poll workers, she said.

Overby believes he has a legal defense if he is charged.

There are laws against campaigning in front of the polling site, but no laws against buying votes, he said. Its a fine point.

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Libertarian to pay penny a vote in campaign fund protest

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September 15th, 2014 9:50 am by TRAVIS LOLLER, Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Four years after the Libertarian Party of Tennessee filed its first lawsuit to get on the ballot, the group is still fighting for access in a state that has some of the most restrictive rules in the country for smaller political parties.

Since 2010, the Libertarians, the Green Party of Tennessee and the Constitution Party of Tennessee have been in near-constant litigation with the state. They have won several victories, and the legislature has changed the law slightly. But the parties say the hurdles for them to get their names on the ballot are still unreasonably high.

A 2010 federal court ruling in one of the cases stated that Tennessee was one of only two states where no third parties had qualified for the ballot over the previous decade.

Individual candidates can appear on Tennessee's ballot simply by submitting a petition with 25 signatures, but they will appear as independents unless their parties have qualified to appear on the ballot as well. For a party to appear on the ballot, it must collect more than 40,000 signatures. If the party wants to stay on the ballot, one of its candidates must garner more than 80,000 votes.

A recent opinion from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in one of the cases says the ease with which an independent candidate can get on Tennessee's ballot undermines the state's argument that too many parties could result in voter confusion.

"It is a puzzling proposition that voters should be less confused by a ballot listing numerous candidates without a party designation than by a similar ballot including party designations." The court goes on to say that a ballot with party designations "at least, contains information helpful to distinguishing among lesser-known candidates."

Donn Janes, vice-chair of the Libertarian Party of Tennessee, said he believes the major parties intentionally make it difficult for minor parties.

"Libertarians would erode some of the voter base for the Republican party," he said. "I can see why they would want to keep us off the ballot."

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Third parties in Tennessee still fighting for ballot access

Ogun State Governor, Ibikunle Amosun | credits: File copy

The crisis in All Progressives Congress in Ogun State deepened on Sunday as one of the special advisers to the Governor Ibikunle Amosun, Mrs. Abimbola Lanre-Balogun; defected to the Peoples Democratic Party.

Lanre-Balogun, was Special Adviser on Environment to the governor until Thursday last week, when she resigned her appointment.

Explaining the reason for her defection, at a PDP stakeholders meeting at the Goodluck Jonathan Political Centre in Ijebu-Igbo, Lanre-Balogun, said she was tired of enduring the style of governance being adopted by Amosun, which she described as family affair.

She further alleged that Amosun was running a government of me, myself and my family.

Lanre-Balogun told journalists shortly after her defection that her passion to work for the good people of the state necessitated the action, alleging that the Amosun-led administration had made her redundant.

She said, I have been in this government (Amosuns) since inception. I was sworn in as Special Adviser on Environment precisely on the July 21, 2011 and we swung into action. Like I always say, I have a passion for hard work, I set out to do so and began to do what God sent me to do for the good people of Ogun State.

I began to work day and night when I was in the Ministry of Environment. It got to a stage that the governor himself called me to the executive meeting and he acknowledged my contribution.

But along the line, I didnt know what happened, I just saw that work was no longer coming and I went to him and said Sir, I dont like being bored, I want to work and thats why Im here.

He said the position was just for me to occupy and that the people doing the work were there. And who were the people doing the work? Just five people himself, his brother, his cousins and members of his family. We were not given anything to do.

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Amosuns aide defects to PDP

Conservatives and liberals do not smell the same to potential mates. According to a study published this month in the American Journal of Political Science, people can literally sniff out ideology and this may explain why so many couples share political beliefs. Or, as the studys title says, Assortative Mating on Ideology Could Operate Through Olfactory Cues.

Researchers led by Brown University political scientist Rose McDermott found that, to a small but significant degree, people prefer the body odor of those who vote asthey do.

Previous studies showed long-term mates are more similar when it comes to politics than anything else besides religion. Researchersset out to determine whether this is a purely socially driven phenomenon, or whetherbiology plays a role.

To test the link between smell and party affiliation, researchers rounded up 146 people aged 18 to 40 from a large city in the northeast United States. They used a seven-point scale to determine where they fell on the political spectrum. They sent 21 of these 10 liberals and 11 conservatives home with fragrance-free soap and shampoo and a gauze pad taped to their armpit. The subjects were told not to smoke, drink, use deodorant or perfume, have sex, eat fragrant foods, sleep with people or pets or linger near strong odors.

They returned the stinky armpit pads 24 hours later. Then 125 participants sniffed the stinky pads, taking a break between whiffs to cleanse their nasal palate with the aroma of peppermint oil. The sniffers, who never saw the people whose smells they were evaluating, then rated the attractiveness of each armpit sample on a 1 to 5 scale.

The subjects found the smell of those more ideologically similar to themselves more attractive than those with opposing views.

It appears nature stacks the deck to make politically similar partners more attractive to each other in unconscious ways, the researchers wrote.

Evolution might explain it. Parental similarity in values increases the likelihood that such individuals may be able to say together long enough to raise their children successfully into adulthood, the researchers wrote.

Or, in other words, youre more likely to raise children with someone you agree with than someone you dont. And smell tips you off on your chances of long-term relationship success.

The link between smell and political preference may also be related to how parents transfer their preferences for certain smells to their children. Humans, including mothers, spend most of their time around ideologically similar others, the researcherswrote. If social attitudes are linked to odor, as the literature suggests, then one mechanism that odor preferences transfer from parents to children may operate through their mothers choice of mate.In this way, social processes may drive some of the pathways by which individuals come to prefer those whose ideological smell matches their own.

Link:
Study: Liberals and conservatives sniff out like-minded mates by body odor