Two California Legislators Say They Are Concerned About Minor Party Ballot Access Problems
Two California Democratic State Senators, both of them members of the Senate Elections Committee and both running for Secretary of State this year, say they are concerned about ballot access problems for minor parties. See this story. They seem particularly interested in the problem that the number of signatures for minor parties to get on the primary ballot, in lieu of the filing fee, increased wildly in 2012, due to implementation of the top-two system.
Why should senators Padilla and Yee have to gather 10,000 signatures in lieu of the filing fee merely because they are Democrats. Wouldn’t that violate equal protection?