They also set up a bureaucratic system so that even when the stringent requirements for ballot access were met, the time of their political opponents would be wasted in fulfilling unnecessary technical and administrative requirements, while the incumbent politicians, who had enacted these laws, were out doing their normal political power brokering. As a result, the majority of these officials ran unopposed for their respective offices, and the citizens in these districts didn t even have any choice about whom they could vote. When Tomeslav realized he would be unable to fulfill these unrealistic requirements, he helped his compatriot, Leo Baca, perform these procedures in one of the districts to the north.
Tomeslav and Baca are not alone. One wonders just how many people would run for office in many of these regional elections if not for these unfair laws. One such person is a friend of Tomeslav, who lives in a neighboring district. This friend, David Chor’zhi, who is also a political activist and reformer, stated, “I would have considered running for representative if the ballot access laws hadn’t been so prohibitive and draconian.”
We are certainly fortunate not to be subjects of the former Soviet Republic. Or are we? The story above is absolutely true, except for a couple of minor details. Bryndza Tomeslav s real name is Brian Thomson, of Warner Robins, Georgia. David Chor’zhi lives in Macon, Georgia and is known to us locals as David “Rock and Roll” Corr.
Georgia currently has the most restrictive of ballot access laws in the country. The petition access barrier there is twice as high as that of the next worst state, Illinois. And it’s ten times as high as the average barrier in all of the other states. What’s truly insulting is that Georgia’s ballot access barrier is also ten times higher than similar barriers in the Ukraine, formerly a republic of the Soviet Union!
These ballot access barriers are primarily established by requiring potential third-party candidates to obtain unrealistic quantities of registered voters to sign petitions. Brian Thomson was nominated to run for Georgia house district 139 by the Libertarian Party last year. Here is how he describes his experience: “I was excited to be a candidate until I realized how difficult it was just to get on the ballot. I was required to collect signatures from 5% of the registered voters in the 139th district, or 1,111 signatures. I would have had to collect 1400 to 1500 signatures to guarantee that I had 1,111 valid signatures. The Republican and Democrat candidates did not have to collect signatures. After realizing that I would not be able to get on the ballot, I helped fellow Libertarian, Leo Baca, collect signatures to get his name on the ballot in Clayton county. After knocking on doors for nine hours one Saturday last June, I was able to collect only 53 signatures, and I was one of the better petitioners! It is very discouraging to be spending all of your time and resources just to get on the ballot, while your opponents are busy campaigning.”
In order to run a full slate of candidates for the U.S. House in Georgia, nearly 200,000 signatures are required. This requirement is specified as 5% of the registered voters. Since fewer than half of the people registered actually bother to vote, this amounts to 1 out of 10 active voters. This might not be so bad if primaries or some other polling facility were provided. But no, signatures have to be solicited by volunteers walking from door to door. At an average of fewer than two registered voters per household, this means that volunteers have to knock on over 100,000 doors. WRONG! They have to knock on nearly HALF A MILLION doors because half the folks aren’t home and then for those who sign, many of the signatures will be disallowed through a labyrinth of technical constraints.
There is currently a group of people actively working to change these prohibitive laws. The Voter Choice Coalition is lobbying in Atlanta at the State Capital to enact HB-188, the Voter Choice Act. Their website is athttp://www.voterchoice.org/ The Voter Choice Act will not level the playing field; however, it will make the electoral process fairer for third-party and independent candidates to receive ballot access by easing the amount of valid signatures required for a candidate to be placed on a ballot.
The choice is quite simple. Georgians can either improve its ballot access laws by passing the Voter Choice Act, or they can live in a state which is almost as politically repressive as the former Soviet Union.
about the author:
S. Philip Gordon is a member of the Voter Choice Coalition, and was honored last year as a Champion of Voter Choice by the organization. He currently serves as the Libertarian Liaison to the Middle Georgia Affiliate of the Voter Choice Coalition. Original Article is Archived here