Thursday, January 19, 2012
Arkansas Politics Green Party qualifies for Arkansas ballot
Posted by Max Brantley on Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 11:59 AM
Secretary of State Mark Martin said the Green Party gathered sufficient signatures to qualify for a party slot on the Arkansas election ballot this year.
The party must hold a nominating convention by May 22.
NEWS RELEASE
Secretary of State Mark Martin certified as sufficient a petition submitted on behalf of the Green Party of Arkansas to form a new political party. The party has met the requirements for its candidates to appear on ballots through the November 2012 General Election.
A.C.A. § 7-7-205 allows any group wishing to form a new political party to do so by submitting a petition to the Secretary of State. The petition must contain the signatures of at least 10,000 registered voters. The Green Party of Arkansas submitted its petition on December 20, 2011 , and the Secretary of State's office verified a sufficient number of valid signatures from registered Arkansas voters. Party status shall be maintained as long as statutory requirements are met.
In addition, Secretary Martin wants to take this opportunity to highlight some of the changes enacted last year. Act 1036 of 2011 requires that new political parties must complete their selection process for candidates by convention, must hold that convention naming those candidates, and all of their candidates must file political practices pledges, no later than NOON on the date of the May 22, 2012, preferential primary election. With this new party certification, the Green Party of Arkansas is the first political party explicitly covered by Act 1036.
Speaking of Mark Martin, Green Party
-
Democratic Party sues to remove Fred Smith from ballot
March 13, 2012The Arkansas Democratic Party has asked the Pulaski Circuit Court to remove former state Rep. Fred Smith from the ballot for the state House from Crittenden County. /more/
-
Republicans make slur official practice
March 8, 2012Permit me a divergence into partisan trivia. Secretary of State Mark Martin has been endeavoring to maintain a place on the ballot for a felon, Fred Smith, a wacky former Democratic legislator who turned up minutes before filing deadline to seek a seat in the legislature again. /more/
-
Complaint: Secy. of state lacks required Spanish voting forms
February 28, 2012Secretary of State Mark Martin hadn't even taken office yet before there was a question about whether he'd follow federal law as it applied to Latino voters. /more/
- More »
Comments (12)
Showing 1-12 of 12
Good for them! We need more political parties in this country. The existing two are corrupted to the core by corporate money.
like
dislike
Everyone should realize this petition process is nothing but the two major Corporate parties placing undue and unfair hardships on an established party. The two Corporate Parties saw to it that the people's choices remain limited and that other parties must overcome barriers the Corporate Parties saw fit to so as to protect them from alternatives.
The Ark Green Party must go through this charade each election no matter the number of votes cast statewide for the U.S. Senate races.
Hence, whether it's Libertarians or Greens, other Parties get to spend much of their political funds and/or manpower getting on the ballot each year.
Freedom and Democracy? Don't kid yourself. Works out like Lucky Luciano's mob organization of dividing up the territories for control and profit except in Ark the Courts are the Corporate Parties' final enforcement arm. The Secretary of State keeps thing straight on the street from year to year.
Hell, here in Alabama I'm not even sure the Democratic Party qualifies for the ballot. I've seen very little evidence of it in my 10-plus years here.
I signed petitions for them and the libertarians. The ballot laws here are absurd.
Hooray for the Green Party of Arkansas! Now we will see some lively contests in a few districts where the Democrats offer up yet another tired blue-dog, GOP wannabe.
Oh, if only there was a Senate seat up this year...
arktrav....when I lived in Alabama in the 90s the mass exodus from the Democratic Pary by white politicians had begun. My good friend and favorite judge and I lamented many times that we would probably be the last two left in Mobile County. We pinky swore we would never vote again before we would vote Republican.
I moved away and the Judge died a few year ago but neither of us ever broke our promise. Somehow he continued to get elected, despite pressure to change parties.
Why are they not required to have the same filing period as the Republicans and Democrats? Do they at least have to choose their nominees by May 22 or does it mean Green Party candidates must only file by May 22?
deltadem, that's one of many inequities in the duopoly's election machine.
The Green Party of Arkansas just today qualified for the ballot after a difficult and expensive (time and money) petition effort [checks please?]. The filing period for candidates starts February 23 and goes to March 1.
Candidates chosen by the Green Party by convention have to file their papers of nomination by the time of the May 22 Preferential Primary (not the June 12 Primary). The big money parties have until 90 days before the GENERAL Election to file their papers of nomination. The law is unclear how the earlier deadlines affect new party Presidential candidates.
http://arkgreens.kk5.org/
Jim, be sure you get someone on the Green Party governor slot as I won't vote for TIF Dustin or DINO Ross and I sure won't vote for whoever the ReTHUGlicans throw up. Halter is okay and Vic Snyder would be great but probably wouldn't consider it. Otherwise, there will just be an undercount.
John B. Anderson has spent the better part of 30 years on the issue of ballot access. Until more potential voters take seriously the dismantling of large hurdles placed on the track by the two-party monopoly, these races will be run with cement blocks on the shoulders of "third" parties and independents.
More by Author
-
Tonight's the night for an open line
Over to you at midweek. Final notes: * NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO: An academic calls for public subsidies of news outlets.
- Apr 11, 2012
-
Thursday night line
What a disaster the Stephens financial empire of Little Rock put in motion for itself when it threw in with a legal effort to try to shake copyright violation fees out of Internet users for reprinting even small snatches of newspaper articles.
- Mar 15, 2012
- More »
Readers also liked…
-
Gas supplier dumps abortion provider
Welsco Industrial Gas and Welding Supply, which has supplied oxygen and nitrous gas to the Little Rock Family Planning Clinic for a decade, told the clinic in early January it would no longer sell to them and demanded its tanks back after an abortion protester filmed a company truck delivering gas to the clinic and posted it on YouTube.
- Jan 19, 2012
-
U.S. appeals court strikes down California same-sex marriage ban
BREAKING: CNN says the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the California voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages violates the U.S. Constitution.
- Feb 7, 2012
People who saved…
Event Calendar
-
Re: N.C. businessman pays a price for support of gay rights
Don't cry for Mr Page. He's lost a local battle but we know he will…
- on May 25, 2012
-
Re: Arkansas Republicans support taking of private property
Why doesn't one of our overly concerned Congressional critters write into the bill that the…
- on May 25, 2012
-
Re: New for Riverfest: Big Sister is watching
DBI: Not to put too fine a point on it (but I just HAVE to…
- on May 25, 2012
Top Commenters
Blogroll
Slideshows
-
Police close the Occupy Little Rock camp, perhaps the last Occupy encampment on public land.
Site Index
News
Cover Story / Arkansas Reporter / The Week That Was / Smart Talk / The Insider / The Observer / Editorial / Max Brantley / Ernest Dumas / Gene Lyons / Bob Lancaster / Words / Guest Writer / Letters
Entertainment
A&E Feature / To-Do List / In Brief / Movie Reviews / Music Reviews / Theater Reviews / A&E News / Art Notes / Graham Gordy / Books / Media / Dining Reviews / Dining Guide / What's Cookin' / Calendar / The Televisionist / Movie Listings / Gallery Listings
This Week's Cover
Quick Links
Special Publications
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
