Ballot Types and Ballot Access

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Ballot Types and Ballot Access

• Early voting was informal, perhaps oral,
  otherwise voters had to create own ballots,
  hardly secret
• Mass party competition (1840 on) led to Party
  Ballots
• printed by parties
• listing only party candidates
• distribution to party supporters
• hardly secret (differ-ently colored paper)

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Implications of Party Ballots

• No ballot access problem
• Hard for voters to split ticket
• Enhances influence of party leaders
• Easy to arrange (even on election eve) fusion
  between (major or minor) parties

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Australian Ballot Reform (1890)

• Government prints ballots
• all voters receive same ballot at polling place
• ballot list all candidates for all offices
• secures secret ballot

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Implications of Australian Ballot

• Ballot access must be regulated
• filing fee, deposit, petition, etc.
• Relatively easy for voter to split ticket
• Reduces influence of party leaders
• Partisan vs. non-Partisan ballots
• U.K. vs. U.S. example
• what information listed for each candidate?
• Harder to fuse party tickets in fact, fusion
  may be prohibited

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Fundamental Implication of Partisan Australian
Ballot

• Which candidate is entitled to be listed on the
  ballot under a given party label?
• Leads to government (in U.S., state government)
  regulation of party organiza-tion and nominating
  procedures
• in particular, in U.S. led to primary elections

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Two Formats for U.S. Australian Ballots

• Relevant only if
• ballot is partisan, and
• two or more offices are at stake
• especially relevant if many offices at stake
  long ballot
• Party-Column/Line Ballot
• arranged by party
• in effect, several party ballots placed together
• may allow straight party vote
• does not encourage split ticket voting
• question of party order on ballot
• Office-Block Ballot
• arranged by office
• encourages split ticket voting
• question of candidate order in each block

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• A Party-
• Column
• Ballot
• (Indiana, 1956)

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An Office-Block Ballot (Massachusetts 1956)
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Presidential Election Ballots

• Does ballot make any reference to Presidential
  electors?
• Does ballot list Presidential elector candidates
  individually?
• Does ballot allow/require voters to vote for
  electors individually?
• Does the ballot indicate the candidates to whom
  the elector candidates are pledged?
• Does state law allow fusion of elector
  candidate slates?

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• Kansas
• (1960)

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• Vermont
• (1960)

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• Hawaii
• (1960)

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• New
• York
• (1960)

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Alabama (1960)