On January 10, 2012, the Constitution, Green and Libertarian Parties filed a lawsuit against the Alabama procedure for qualifying new and previously unqualified parties for the ballot. On February 9, U.S. District Court Judge William K. Watkins set a status conference for the case, to be held February 16 at 2 p.m. This quick action will probably make it possible for the case to be expedited.
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This is good news, but we all still need to contact the members of the ALABAMA CONSTITUTION, CAMPAIGN FINANCE, ETHICS AND ELECTIONS COMMITTEE and ask for these committee members to vote for either SB 15 and/or SB 55.
Personally, I prefer SB 55 which allows independent and 3rd party candidates to simply pay a filing fee (2% of the annual salary of the office sought)for ballot access.
The members names and email addresses of these Senators are:
Bryan Taylor <bryan.taylor@alsenate.org
Phil Williams <philw.williams@alsenate.gov
Paul Bussman <p_bussman@bellsouth.net
Shadrack Mcgill shadrick.mcgill@alsenate.org
Trip Pittman <trip.pittman@alsenate.gov
Tammy Irons<tammy@ironslawfirm.com
Two senators who are members of this committee and who do not have accessible email addresses. However their names and telephone numbers are:
Billy Beasley (334) 775-3291
Arthur Orr (334) 242-7891
I trust all who can will contact these senators and ask them to support these good bills. I spoke today by phone with one committee member and exchanged emails with another. Neither one was outright opposed to the bill. But more than anything, people who support these bills HAVE to contact these committee members and let them know there is support for the bills. You can't expect the Senators to support an otherwise good bill if they feel there is no public support.
I for one am tired of having to collect signatures on petitions – no matter how few they may be. It is degrading and makes the candidate and his/her supporters "2nd class citizens." We should have the right to simply qualify for the ballot by paying a filing fee just like most Democrats and Republicans have to do.