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KW: A person’s right to run for office is directly related to their right to vote. Every voter can and must be able to run for office under reasonable circumstances, or our democracy is a fraud.
The article below from Ballot Access News shows one of those statistics that points out that the ballot access/election system we have is not fair. It shows that there were absolutely no statewide victories for independents in the whole country this year. With that failure rate, it is easy to see that the system is blocking people who deserve to participate as candidates and elected officials. There had to be one, independent person in all of America who deserved to be elected for a statewide office.
The statistics in this Ballot Access News story are about the amount of independent candidates able to win in the election cycle (none!). Though, that also flows from the fact that it is so difficult for independent candidates to get on the ballot and be a candidate in the first place. In Suffolk County, where I live, the Board of Elections is by definition controlled by the Democrats and Republicans. They rarely allow petitions to run for office submitted by independent or third party candidates who are not also tied to a major party. Some years, there are no independents who even try. Other years, a handful try and mostly find themselves ruled out by the Democrat Commisioner and Republican Commissioner at the Board of Elections.
Here is the full story from Ballot Access News:
No Independent Statewide Victories for First Election Since 1988
November 5th, 2008
The 2008 election is the first election since 1988 in which no independent or minor party candidate won a statewide election. However, there is one statewide race in 2008 in which an independent appears to have placed ahead of a major party nominee, and also one U.S. House race with that characteristic.
In Vermont, with 88.5% of the precincts reporting, independent gubernatorial candidate Anthony Pollina is slightly ahead of his Democratic opponent. The vote is Douglas (Rep.) 146,034; Pollina (indp.) 57,366; Symington (Dem.) 57,150; others 7,938.
In California’s U.S. House race, 8th district, the vote is: Pelosi (Dem.) 126,073; Sheehan (indp.) 29,951; Walsh (Rep.) 16,149; Berg (Libt.) 4,024.
Filed under: 3rd party, Ballot issues, election, Election 2008, elections, grassroots democracy, long island, Long Island Politics, News, Political Websites, progressive politics, reform, third party, US Politics Tagged: | ballot access, campaigns, elected officials, independents, statewide, wins
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