Now is the time for people who are dissatisfied with current election laws to look for legislators who will introduce bills to improve the laws in 2017. Few people are aware that this is the best time to be doing that work. Some state legislatures have very early deadlines for bills. The most restrictive deadline is the Indiana legislature’s December 9, 2016 deadline for legislators to ask legislative staff to draft proposed bills.

Year after year, Indiana is the only state with restrictive ballot access in which no bill is introduced to improve those laws. No statewide minor party or independent petition has succeeded in Indiana since 2000. Indiana is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader (who placed third, in three presidential elections in a row) never got on the ballot (the others are North Carolina, Georgia, and Oklahoma). In the other states, there are always bills and/or lawsuits to do something about it, but Indiana is a dead zone. There is one Constitution Party activist working hard in Indiana to find a sponsor in time to meet the deadline. Anyone who lives in Indiana and who would like to help him should contact me at richardwinger@yahoo.com, or 415-922-9779.