The Herald-Journal of Spartanburg, South Carolina, has this editorial in its July 23 issue. It criticizes restrictive ballot access laws, especially the law that was recently upheld by the 4th circuit that kept the Green Party from nominating its preferred candidate for the legislature in 2008, Eugene Platt.
Thanks for Green Party post…
Pratt is strong Green Party candidate this year…
Great editorial, right on the mark. Third parties and independents but also voters’ freedom to choose are
chewed up and swallowed by the self-protection measures
of the duopoly. Democracy? What democracy?
I do think the editorial was wrong in how it sequenced
events. My recollection is that the Green nomination was bestowed on Platt BEFORE he lost the Democratic
primary and that the Election Commission then used sore
loser in a totally perverse way to deny him any access to the ballot. I am not sure about the timing of the Working Families Party nomination of Platt.
Top 2 Open Primary would solve the problem.
If Eugene Platt wanted to be a state legislator he would simply file as a candidate. Political parties would be free to recruit, encourage, and endorse candidates. If a political party wanted to have some sort of convention or primary to determine which candidates they wished to endorse they could do so. This would solve the Republican’s desire to exclude supposed non-Republicans from their nominating activities.
#2 Platt made a timely filing to be in the Democratic primary, including its loyalty oath. He later filed with the Working Family party, he filed with the Green Party on the day of their convention. The primary election was after that.