22 November 2013
By Richard Winger
Ballot Access News
"A U.S. District Court will hear Erard v Michigan Secretary of State on
December 23. This is a case filed by the Michigan Socialist Party in
2012, arguing that the number of signatures required to get a party on
the Michigan ballot is unconstitutional. The number of signatures
needed for a new party is 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. But the
number of votes needed for a party to remain on the ballot is a smaller
number, 1% of the winning candidate for Secretary of State’s vote.
For the 2014 election, 32,261 signatures are needed. Yet in 2012, a
party that was already on the ballot only needed 16,803 votes for any
statewide race in order to remain on. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1968,
in Williams v Rhodes, ruled that it is unconstitutional for a state to
require more support for a new party to get on, than for an old party to
stay on...."
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