Ballot access

This article is about access to elections and right to candidacy in the United States. For right to stand for election elsewhere, see Nomination rules.

Ballot access are rules and procedures regulating the right to candidacy, the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots in elections in the United States.[1]

The jurisprudence of the right to candidacy and right to create a political party are less clear than voting rights in the United States.[2] However, the U.S. Supreme Court has established in multiple cases that the federal constitution does not recognize a fundamental right to candidacy,[3][4] and that state governments have a legitimate government interest in blocking "frivolous or fraudulent candidacies".[5][6][7] As election processes are decentralized by Article I, Section 4, of the United States Constitution, ballot access laws are established and enforced by the states.[8] As a result, ballot access processes may vary from one state to another.

State access requirements for candidates generally pertain to personal qualities of a candidate, such as: minimum age, residency, and citizenship. Additionally, many states require prospective candidates to collect a specified number of qualified voters' signatures on petitions of support and mandate the payment of filing fees before granting access; ballot measures are similarly regulated (as is the wording and format of petitions as well). Each state also regulates how political parties qualify for automatic ballot access, and how those minor parties that do not can. Fundamental to democracy, topics related to ballot access are the subject of considerable debate in the United States.

In order to get on the ballot, a candidate, political party, or ballot measure must meet various requirements. The Elections Clause in Article I of the Constitution states that "the Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each state by the Legislature thereof." Consequently, each state may design its own unique criteria for ballot access.[8] The United States is one of the few nations that do not have uniform national laws on ballot access.[9]

  1. ^ "Ballot access". www.ballotpedia.org. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  2. ^ Gordon, Nicole A. "The Constitutional Right to Candidacy." U. Kan. L. Rev. 25 (1976): 545.
  3. ^ Amado, Alexandra, ed. (2022). Election Law Manual (PDF) (2nd ed.). National Center for State Courts/College of William & Mary. p. 19. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  4. ^ Baude, William; Paulsen, Michael Stokes (August 14, 2023). "The Sweep and Force of Section Three". University of Pennsylvania Law Review. University of Pennsylvania Law School: 56–57. SSRN 4532751. Retrieved December 29, 2023.
  5. ^ Raskin, Jamin; Bonifaz, John (1994). "The Constitutional Imperative and Practical Superiority of Democratically Financed Elections". Columbia Law Review. 94 (4). Columbia Law Review Association: 1169. doi:10.2307/1123281. JSTOR 1123281.
  6. ^ Gamboa, Anthony H. (March 13, 2001). Elections: The Scope of Congressional Authority in Election Administration (PDF) (Report). General Accounting Office. p. 3. Retrieved June 8, 2023.
  7. ^ Elsea, Jennifer K.; Jones, Juria L.; Whitaker, L. Paige (January 10, 2024). Disqualification of a Candidate for the Presidency, Part II: Examining Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment as It Applies to Ballot Access (Report). Congressional Research Service. p. 3. Retrieved January 14, 2024.
  8. ^ a b Baracskay, Daniel. "Ballot Access". The First Amendment Encyclopedia. Murfreesboro, Tennessee: Middle Tennessee State University. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  9. ^ Avlon, John P. (December 30, 2011). "How ballot access laws hurt voters". CNN. Retrieved February 16, 2019.