[olug] OT: PSA

[Tim & Alethea Larson]

On 11/8/10 9:26 PM, Thomas D. Williamson wrote:
> Just a note. All the talk of a multiple party system is appealing, but
> the right to run for office under a particular party, not just as a
> write in, is determined by each state. If you are not a candidate from
> the Republican or Democratic parties, the process in some states to be
> listed in a different party is draconian. There have been only a couple
> of groups as third parties that got on enough state ballots to have a
> percentage that could be considered having validity. I know Jon Anderson
> got enough votes to get Federal Matching Funds. The threshold then was
> 5% of the popular vote. I do not recall what percentage Perot got or if
> he was seeking those funds. Nader as a third party did not appear on all
> fifty states because some of the states make it all but impossible to
> get on the state ballot for a federal election.

Ballot access is definitely an important concern as well.  This, too, is 
a chicken-and-egg situation.  I'd hope, however, that if voting were 
more fair, it would naturally become easier for all parties to use the 
same procedure to qualify.  The arbitrariness of access laws, and seeing 
as they are crafted by the incumbent parties, definitely works against 
competition.


Tim