Michael Toner, chair of the Federal Election Commission, appeared for an hour on C-SPAN on August 30, answering questions from viewers. A viewer from Lamar, Missouri, asked Toner about the treatment of minor party and independent presidential candidates. In response, Toner strongly condemned states that require hundreds of thousands of signatures for minor parties and independent candidates to get on the ballot. He emphasized how different the various states are on ballot access, and suggested that the more lenient states have little trouble with their lenient policy.
Toner also suggested that the Commission on Presidential Debates ought to lower the requirements for entry into the presidential debates, from 15% in national polls, to either 5% or 10% in such polls.
Toner is one of the three Republicans on the Federal Election Commission. Thanks to Nancy Ross for this news.
Could be good news for an independent/minor party candidate to get on a debate stage in 2008 presidential election.
Polls should not be used at all to determine who gets in the debate. Many times and this has been my personal experience when you tell the pollster you are voting for a minor party candidate even when it is yourself they say I will put you down as undecided. For the presiedential debates any candidate on enough ballots to actually win should be allowed in the debate and any candidate on the ballot in the state where the debate is held should be allowed in whether or not he could win the election.
Impressive comments made by the FEC chairman, for a Republican.
The problem is that we need to get a bill introduced in both houses and then Americans calling up and supporting it. Will Ron Paul introduce a house bill? Sometimes he does, and sometimes he does not Who would introduce a Senate bill?
We would have better luck amending the constitution to ensure the right to create a political party, associate with a political party, and have that party campaign for public office equally before the law.
Oh sure, he SAYS he’s all for fair treatment of minor parties, then he turns around and abuses his position in attempting to sue an alternative political party out of existance.
Actions truly DO speak louder than words, and his actions speak “Politics as usual”.