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Last Updated: Oct 9th, 2007 - 15:41:45 |
Ballot access in Alabama
If you want to run for public office, all you have to do is qualify (be of proper age, be a citizen, etc.) sign your name and register with the appropriate government agency - right? WRONG.
Alabama has some of the harshest ballot requirements in the United States. "Ballot Access News" places Alabama 50th in terms of ballot access. Ballot access laws are laws that deal with printing of candidate's names and party affiliation (if any) onto the ballot. Kind of tough to run for anything if you can't get your name printed on the ballot!?
If you want to run for public office as an independent, all you should have to do is register with the local Probate Judge or the Secretary of State. Of course, if you want to run as a member of a political party then you would also have to comply with the rules of each party organization. Sounds reasonable doesn't it.
As the law currently stands, in order to run for office you are required to collect signatures on a petition. For example if you wanted to run for Secretary of State you would be required to collect +37,000 good signatures. This can actually mean up to 50,000 or 60,000 signatures that have to be checked off.
This is wrong. Access to the ballot is one of the cornerstones of a Democracy and a Republic. Access to the ballot should remain open to all voters and candidates. The Constitutions of the United States and Alabama spell out the requirements to run for public office. Any additional laws are barriers designed to stifle and end competition.
Want to start a new political party? It is even more difficult. 90% of the budgets of third parties are spent in simply getting their names printed on the ballot. Restricting fledgling political parties by compelling them to gather signatures to this degree kills them. Such laws do not "define" political parties but rather put them out of business.
Recently an attempt was made to make it even more difficult. In the Regular Session 2003, Rep. Guin introduced House Bill #77 which would have increased the requirement to 20% in the Governor's race. If that version had been law, this would have been a one party state 1900-1902, 1906-1922,1926-1954, and 1958-1966. Is this right in a free society? How quickly some people forget that even in 1974 the Republicans garnered only 14.8% for Governor of Alabama. The only function of these laws is to prevent other political parties from competing in Alabama politics. Competition is good for restaurants. It is good for politics and it is great for voters!
Ballot access restrictions are a direct attack on third parties. A process that should be open to all contenders is being manipulated by the ruling parties. All contenders should be respected in the political arena and treated equally. The competition has no right to decide the legitimacy of its opponents. The voters should be the only ones to decide the legitimacy of candidates and political parties and they do so at the polls.
It is unconstitutional on the face of it. A political party is a group of folks that decide to run under one ideological banner. Nothing more. Placing restrictions on printing that name on a ballot is tyranny.
All despots ensure that there is no competition in the political playing field. This is how tyranny begins. Sadly enough this is what is happening right here and right now.
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