By Associated Press
Montgomery, AL – Three independent candidates lost a challenge to Alabama's ballot access laws. The 11th U-S Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the state's ballot access laws are reasonable and do not violate the constitutional rights of independent candidates.
Johnny Swanson of Birmingham and two other independent candidates challenged the laws in 2002. They lost at the district court level and then appealed to the 11th Circuit.
In a 3-to-nothing decision, the court found no problems with Alabama laws that require candidates to get voters' signatures equal to three percent of the vote in the last election for governor. They must also present those signatures by the date of the primary election.
Swanson plans to run for the U-S Senate next year. But he says he will do it as a Democrat because it's too hard to get the 40-thousand signatures needed to run statewide as an independent candidate.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)