In mid-February — February 17, to be precise — aspiring candidates for the May Primary election will be canvassing our neighborhoods and possibly stopping at your home for your registered voter signature and address on what is known as a candidate’s nominating petition.
The U.S. electoral system is a farce. It is controlled with the same mastery with which Coke and Pepsi dominate the soda market. It is sold to the American public as if the free and open exchange of ideas is what’s inside, but the hidden ingredients are toxic to the body politic. The story of Election 2014 will be how Libertarians (and some Independents) were, and will continue to be, a deciding factor in statewide elections despite the constant roadblocks. No longer polling at 1–2 percent, the jump to the 6–8 percent range looks to rewrite the political playbook that campaign workers have used for generations.
It would be wrong to think that Republicans won big on November 4 and are now ascendant. Not very many people like Republicans. Gallup regularly samples voters’ political affiliation and those choosing the Republican Party have declined steadily to only 24 percent this year. Arguably, they have atrophied into just a minor political party.
Let’s now turn to the issue of independents and third parties. We’ve all heard of the disproportionate signatures needed for independent and third party candidates to obtain ballot access as compared to Republicans and Democrats. We’ve all heard of the insane petitions challenges and reasons to keep independents off the ballot. It’s nothing less than economic intimidation, as I have dubbed it, to be compelled to pay to defend against challenges to ballot inclusion. I can assure you the horror stories are true, but all that would not matter if only our elected officials took their oaths seriously. Might I refer back to Article 1, Section 5: Elections shall be free and equal. What is it about that statement that a two-year-old can understand but our entrenched politicians cannot?
The Independent Gazette is continuing to keep tabs on the status of SB 195, the Voters’ Choice Act. Below is an email we’ve been sending to Pennsylvania Senators’ staffs.