On March 23, staff attorneys for the Federal Election Commission presented a 25-page analysis of whether the FEC should require the Commission on Presidential Debate to revise its 15% poll requirement for invitations into the general election debates. The analysis recommends against any change. It concludes, “the Commission concludes that the petition does not present credible evidence that a 15% threshold is so unobtainable by independent or third-party candidates that it is per se subjective or intended to exclude them.”
It also says, “While the reports by Dr. Young and Mr. Schoen, in addition to the historical polling and campaign finance data presented with the petition, demonstrate certain challenges that independent candidates may face when seeking the presidency, these submissions do not demonstrate either that the threshold is so high that only Democratic and Republican nominees could reasonably achieve it, or that the threshold is intended to result in the selection of those nominees to participate in the debates.”
Because this is the only draft prepared by the FEC staff, it is likely that the Commission will adopt this draft. Generally when the FEC Commissioners are divided on an issue, they ask the staff to prepare several drafts that come to different and varying conclusions.
The draft says nothing whatsoever about the political behavior or public statements of the commissioners of the CPD.
