Update: Mary Norwood Fights to Get on Ballot
UPDATE: Mary Norwood’s lawsuit against incumbent Fulton Commission chair dismissed
In his short ruling issued July 1, Judge Jerry Baxter stated, “The court finds, at this time, there is no actual controversy … and the ends of justice do not warrant a declaratory judgment.”
Norwood, who is attempting to gather some 23,000 signatures to qualify as an Independent on the ballot to run against Eaves for the Fulton County Commission chair post, filed suit last week after Eaves and his attorneys challenged “several thousand” of the signatures she has obtained.
My Fox Atlanta has a nice story with video about Mary Norwood’s continuing efforts to run for office in Georgia as an independent. Free & Equal Inc. is excited to be the national company working toward ballot access for Mary Norwood.
Norwood’s opponent in the race is current commission chair John Eaves and he contends that the forms Norwood is using to collect signatures aren’t legal.
Norwood is now asking a judge to rule on the matter.
It will take 22,000 signatures for the former mayoral candidate to make it onto the ballot as an Independent.
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Norwood has paid $50,000 to hire a national company to collect signatures and she says she’s confident she’ll get the number she needs.
Here are two more good articles following Mary Norwood and her hard campaigning.
Atlanta Progressive News, “Eaves Questions 9,000 Norwood Signatures for Ballot Access”.
Norwood has hired Free and Equal, a petition signature-gathering firm,
Neighbor Newspapers, “Norwood halfway to November ballot”.
To obtain the balance of signatures she needs, Ms. Norwood said her campaign hired Raleigh, N.C.-based Free and Equal Inc., specializing in helping “independent candidates acquiring ballot access.”
Circus of petition challenges in Illinois
Monday, June 28 2010, was the last day for filing objections to candidate petition signatures in Illinois for the November election. There were 81 objections filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections by 22 different objectors against a number of candidates. Christina Tobin, CEO of Free & Equal Inc., today responded to those petition challenges filed to kick candidates off the ballot for the Illinois election this November.
“All of the people who filed objections to candidate petitions should immediately disclose to the voters of Illinois why they are holding up ballot access for these candidates,“ said Christina Tobin. “The private challenge system Illinois has is bad enough without the circus of objections that were filed yesterday. The voters deserve an explanation for these objections and more transparency from the challengers.“
“Numerous petition challenges through recent years have turned out to be frivolous wastes of scarce government resources. We intend to expose those challengers who are not playing fair,“ said Tobin. “Illinois saw pointless petition challenges during the last two races for state officers. They are about to see the same insanity happen again in 2010.“
In 2006, Green Party candidate for Governor Rich Whitney and the Greens’ statewide slate withstood a petition challenge that was found to be unwarranted. Gubernatorial candidate Cal Skinner and his Libertarian Party slate also made it on the ballot in 2002 after a senseless challenge.
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections website, there were 81 objections filed against independent and new party candidates during this filing period. Sharon Ann Meroni of Barrington Hills filed 32 objections, Rob Sherman of Buffalo Grove filed 13 objections, Andrew Heffernan of Stickney filed 11 objections, Thomas P. Dunaway and Ella White from Chicago filed 5 objections, and Phillip Hunt of Oak Park, Robert R. Slover of Peoria Heights, and Blake Phillip Sercye of Chicago each filed two objections. An additional 14 other objectors filed one challenge each.
“Independent and alternative party candidates should be held to the same standard as the established parties of simply 5,000 signatures, instead of the 25,000 Illinois state law requires of them,” said Tobin. “We are going to expose the challengers taking advantage of the discrimination inherent in our election laws.“
“With that many challenges filed this year, close to a million signatures, if not more, will have to be verified over the coming weeks and months, all at a significant cost to the taxpayers“, said Tobin. “The drain to government budgets could well reach into the millions.“
“These objectors are taking advantage of a flawed and unfair system,” said Tobin. “Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan used petition challenges to favor themselves politically. We know petition challenges are not immune to abuse. The objectors should come clean about their intentions immediately.”
Texas Green Party Appeals Ballot Decision
The Wall Street Journal has this article, “Texas Green Party Appeals Ballot Decision”, with an update on the ballot access struggles for the Green Party of Texas.
“Green Party attorneys on Monday asked the Texas Supreme Court to reconsider the ruling in time for the party to make its July 2 deadline to submit its list of candidates to the secretary of state.”
Previously, the Wall Street Journal covered the Green Party of Texas battle with this article, “Texas Democrats See Red Over Green Party’s Ballot Coup”. Free & Equal Inc. got a mention.
Christina Tobin, president of Free and Equal…
Mary Norwood Sues Current Fulton County Commission Chairman’s Campaign
Free & Equal is about justice for independent candidates and independent voters nationwide. Georgia already has the toughest ballot access requirements in the country. These nonsensical technicalities only make it even more difficult for good public servants like Mary Norwood to participate in our elections. We intend to get Norwood on the ballot so that her example can help break down these unfair ballot access barriers all across the country.
Sincerely,
Christina Tobin
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Mary Norwood Sues Current Fulton County Commission Chairman’s Campaign
Incumbent Attempting to Stop Norwood from Getting on the Ballot on a Technicality
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Conference to be held today: 10:00 a.m. – 2900 Peachtree Road (The Peach Shopping Center)
Atlanta, GA, June 22, 2010. A lawsuit filed by Mary Norwood, candidate for Chairman of the Fulton County Commission, alleges incumbent Chairman John Eaves is attempting to block her name from the ballot for the November 2, 2010 election.
Running as an Independent candidate, Norwood must obtain signatures from five percent of Fulton County’s registered voters to be placed on the ballot. Back in May, Norwood’s campaign obtained written approval from the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections to pre-type in the word “Fulton” in the space provided for the signer’s county of residence.
Relying upon a hyper-technical interpretation of the law, John Eaves’s campaign claims that each signer must handwrite the word “Fulton” along with their address on the form. The Eaves campaign is being represented by former U.S. Representative George W. “Buddy” Darden (D-GA). This interpretation would void thousands of signatures already obtained by Mary Norwood and her supporters.
“I am more than surprised that our Fulton County Chairman would bring in big legal guns to challenge a petition form. This is a Fulton County form for a Fulton County election, approved by Fulton County’s Department of Registration and Elections,” stated Mary Norwood. “We believe that every single signature that we have gotten on our petition forms should count. To tell registered voters that their voice does not matter goes against our basic rights as Americans.”
In order to make certain that all of the signatures count toward ballot access for Mary Norwood, she is seeking an emergency ruling from the Fulton County Superior Court that the thousands of signatures she has already obtained on the approved nomination form remain valid. “This is further proof why residents of Fulton County deserve another choice for Commission Chairman this November. We need anyone who cares about ballot access or is a supporter of mine to come out and sign the petition,” said Norwood. “Let’s let the voters decide in November.”
Registered voters interested in signing Mary’s petition forms may call 404.949.9445 or go to her campaign’s website www.electmarynorwood.com for further information. Norwood’s campaign offices are located at 2900 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta GA 30305 and are open from 10am-7pm M-F, and 1pm – 5pm Sat and Sun.
Mary Norwood is conducting a Press Conference at 10 am, at The Peach Shopping Center, outside the Barnes & Noble Store, at 2900 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, GA 30305.
Cook County Republicans following George Ryan’s political playbook
Christina Tobin, founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation, released a statement today in response to an email recently put out by the Cook County Republicans on behalf of the Illinois Republican Party.
The email started with a shocking admission by Illinois Republicans that they intend to challenge candidates’ petitions based on the potential political impact it will have on their party rather than Republicans acting in the best interests of the voters or the principles behind democratic elections:
“The Illinois GOP is diverting all efforts to challenge those candidates’ petitions that may have a negative impact on OUR Republican nominees (it is our belief that these candidates will steal votes from Republicans.)”
“The email the Cook County Republicans put out shows a complete disregard for Illinois voters and our American democracy,” said Christina Tobin. “The tradition in Illinois of knocking political competition off the ballot is more reminiscent of what we saw in the former Soviet Union than what our country’s founders intended. Illinois Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for engaging in this anti-democratic activity.”
In 1998, The Chicago Tribune reported that 73 state employees worked for Republican George Ryan’s campaign on a petition challenge that knocked the Libertarian Party candidates off the ballot. Their report also showed 19 state employees were still on the taxpayer clock while working on the challenge. George Ryan went on the defeat Glen Poshard in November after the petition challenge removed Libertarian candidate for Governor Jim Tobin.
“We’ve seen this type of democracy killing behavior for years in Illinois, from Republicans and Democrats, so this is no surprise. Today, I’d like to warn Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and the US Attorneys in Illinois to keep a very close eye out for the kind of illegal activity surrounding petition challenges that this state has seen in the past.”
“Illinois Republicans need to be reminded that these petition challenges are costly to taxpayers also. Illinois Republicans are costing the taxpayers money because they selfishly feel entitled to having a ballot without much competition on it. Don’t let me leave out Illinois Democrats either, because they are usually worse about costing this state money with frivolous petition challenges.”
“Free and Equal Elections calls for Illinois to reform their ballot access laws and abolish the current private petition challenge system for the good of all Illinois voters. The mess surrounding petition challenges that Illinois will see in the coming months should prove, yet again, the need for real electoral reform in Illinois. Article III, Section 3 of the Illinois Constitution says ‘All Election Shall Be Free And Equal’, and it’s time the Republicans and Democrats started honoring and following that democratic principle,” said Christina Tobin.
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This is the entire text of the Republican email:
From: Republican Organization of Lyons Township <>
Subject: Attention EVERY Republican!
To:
Date: Sunday, June 20, 2010, 12:55 PM
Everyone – Now is the time!
The Illinois GOP is diverting all efforts to challenge those candidates’ petitions that may have a negative impact on OUR Republican nominees (it is our belief that these candidates will steal votes from Republicans.) Starting Tuesday through Saturday it is a must that we fill up all terminals.
All the Committeemen, Precinct Captains and Republicans (County, township and ward) statewide are being asked to divert their time and volunteers to this effort. We have 25 terminals and must fill those throughout the week to achieve victory in 2010.
This information is time sensitive – -One hour or two hours is needed CALL NOW.
For more information or to help in this effort, please contact ASAP:
Lyons Township contact:
Ray Hodson 0r John Small
Precinct Captain Coordinators
or
Jonathan Callaway
Director of Volunteers
Cook County Republican Party
Thank you.
Executive Committee Republican Organization of Lyons Township
Free & Equal, Inc. is a full-service ballot access consulting and petitioning firm specializing in ballot access for independent and third party candidates.
