Ray Boyd, who had formally announced on May 8 that he would be an independent candidate for Governor of Georgia, has decided to suspend his petition drive. He would have needed 44,089 signatures by July 13.
This is the second gubernatorial election in a row at which someone has set out to be an independent candidate for Governor of Georgia, and has not completed the petition. John Dashler had a similar experience in 2006.
Petition requirements as difficult as Georgia’s function as a gargantuan filing fee that is applied on a discriminatory basis. Neither Dashler nor Boyd was willing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get on the ballot.
One of the reasons that it would have been so expensive to put this guy on the ballot in Georgia is because he was going to start his petition drive at the last minute. Georgia gives you a long time to gather the petition signatures, so if this guy would have started earlier the cost of doing the petition drive would have been cheaper.
Yes, but the reason all 50 states have procedures for independent candidates to get on the ballot is that it is a safety valve if it appears all the party nominees will be unsatisfactory to many voters in the general election. So it is not reasonable to expect independent candidates to decide to run, very early in the election year.
I have to somewhat disagree with both Richard and Andy.
First, time frames for collecting signatures and turning them in for independent candidates (and 3rd parties) should not be based on the premise someone will not like the nominees of the major parties. Many major party legislators think (and know) this is the origination of many independent candidacies – expecially independents – and they deliberately have worked for earlier filing deadlines, or short time frames to gather the signatures. I can recall many otherwise serious candidates who wanted to run for office as an independent, but who waited until it was too late to get the signatures. So I have little sympathy for these “last minute” boys who subconsciously really want to play in either the Democratic or Republican league, but get their feelings hurt and run independent (or even 3rd party) to get even.
Second, Mr. Boyd appears to have acted like a “know-it-all” with his independent candidacy. I even emailed him with several suggestions (and never received a reply) including the retaining of a professional firm to supervise the petition campaign. Mr. Boyd comes across as somewhat financially independent, so money should not have been an issue. Instead, he had this misconception (like many independent and 3rd party candidates)the people are as excited as he was over his Independent candidacy, and people would just stumble all over themselves getting petitions circulated and signed. NOT SO!
If one is going to be 3rd party or Independnet, then be such, and not be swayed by what the major parties do or don’t do. If one is going to run for office as 3rd party or independent, then start your petition campaign the 1st day of the time period for gathering signatures – and if funds allow – hire professional firms to collect them.
It sad the people of Georgia will not have an Independent candidate for Governor who might have had an opportunity to made a real impact on the outcome. But Mr. Boyd – like many 3rd partisan and independents – was his own worst enemy in this case.
Separate is NOT equal — even in GA — even for ballot access.
Brown v. Bd of Ed 1954