Ohio has a state Elections Commission, which is responsible for enforcing the state’s campaign finance laws. The Commission consists of three members of each of the two largest parties, plus one person who is not a member of any party. In 2018, when gubernatorial debates for the general election were set up, the debate sponsors had no neutral criteria for determining who should be invited to the debates. The Libertarian Party, which had a gubernatorial nominee on the ballot, complained to the Ohio Elections Commission, but the Commission refused to act.
Federal law is clear that when corporations sponsor debates, they must have objective criteria. On June 15, the Ohio Libertarian Party filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that (1) the commission is unconstitutionally constituted, because members of minor parties can never be members; (2) that the 2018 gubernatorial general election debates were illegal. Libertarian Party of Ohio v Wilhem, s.d., 2:19cv-2501. The case is assigned to U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley, a Clinton appointee.
How about an IMPORTANT LP case against minority rule gerrymanders ???
PR and AppV
Could the Cordray and Dewine campaigns stage a joint event? Surely they have a 1st Amendment right to do so.
Rent a venue, hire a moderator, arrange professional audio and video, and make that available to Tv stations.
Who sponsored the Lincoln-Douglas debates?
If liberty is to survive or revive, the two-party stranglehold on our political system must be demolished.
Jim, the Ohio debates were paid for by for-profit corporations.
Do they have to follow the objective criteria? Because the Commission on Presidential Debates allegedly has objective criteria but they certainly don’t follow them.
The Commission on Presidential Debates does have objective criteria. The candidate must be at 15% or more in polls in September of the election year. The only person running for president outside the major parties who has ever met this standard was George Wallace in 1968, but that was before there were presidential debates. Ross Perot was only at 7% in the polls on October 1, 1992, the day he re-entered the race after having dropped out in mid-July 1992.