On Monday, May 10, Ralph Nader filed his first ballot
access lawsuit for the 2004 election.  He sued Texas
in federal court.  He alleges that since Texas only
requires 45,540 signatures for a new party and since
the new party petition deadline is May 24, it is not
rational for Texas to require him to get 64,077 and
turn them in two weeks earlier (May 10).  The case is
Nader v Connor, A04ca-264LY.  It was assigned to
federal judge Lee Yeakel in Austin.  Yeakel was only
appointed to the federal bench 6 months ago.

All the other precedents on the issue of whether
ballot access can be tougher for independent
candidates than for minor parties are favorable to
Nader.  There are only five such precedents, from US
District Court in Missouri in 1976, the 4th circuit in
1990, the Florida Supreme Court in 1975, a US District
Court in North Carolina in 1980, and a US District
Court in Alabama in 1990.

The press didn't do a very good job of explaining the
lawsuit.  I have seen the AP article and also the Fort
Worth newspaper article and I don't think they are well-written.


	
		
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