Faculty Scholarship

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2005

Abstract

The following article is a tripartite effort by Mitchell Berger and Grace E. Robson, members of the Florida Bar; John B. Anderson, a member of the Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad Law Center faculty; and a team of two of the students at that law school, Jason Blank and Tom Brogan, to examine the subject of ballot access for non-major party candidates in presidential elections in the wake of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Florida in Reform Party of Florida v. Black.' Mr. Berger has furnished a critical analysis of that decision. Our team of students has catalogued the ballot access laws of the fifty states and the District of Columbia. John B. Anderson has reviewed United States Supreme Court decisions on the subject of ballot access specifically, and then also more generally on the way in which they reflect on the electoral process; a process which for a century and a half has been dominated by our two major parties. His criticism of the resulting duopoly of political power and control should be attributed to him alone and not to the other members of this collaborative effort. However, both Mr. Berger and Mr. Anderson support the idea of a constitutional amendment putting forth an affirmative right to vote as both necessary and desirable as a predicate for any effort to achieve a more uniform approach to ballot access in future presidential contests. We also join in our appreciation for the research assistance of Messrs. Blank and Brogan and their contribution to our joint effort.


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