September 9, 2012

The politicization of America’s democratic process continues without pause leading to a situation where complete catastrophe is becoming a possibility.  Ballot Access News, the blog of election expert Richard Winger, recently had an article, titled “At Least Fifteen States Can’t Begin Printing November 2012 Ballots Yet,” that shows how deep the dysfunction of in our election system has become.  With fifteen states yet to print ballots for the November 6th elections, there is a new feeling of panic among election watchers.

According to the Ballot Access News post, there is a continuing battle over which parties will even be permitted to vote in the coming elections.  Apparently, “Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island” have all been unable to print their ballots because it has not been determined by the individual state governments who will appear as candidates.

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate for President, has been polling at five percent in national polls in a country of  well over 300 million people.   Still, Johnson’s campaign continues the fight to appear on ballots across the country, reminiscent of Ralph Nader’s attempts to run for President in 2000 under the Green Party’s platform.

With both the Republicans and Democrats engaged in an outright politicization of the election process, the courts have become the favored battleground.  Take a look at this excerpt from the Ballot Access News article:

Although some states say they are already printing ballots for overseas absentee ballots, at least fifteen states cannot start printing ballots yet. Three states still haven’t held their congressional primaries. They are Delaware, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, all of which hold their congressional primaries on September 11, 2012.

As of September 9, some Colorado counties can’t print ballots because a court is still deciding whether they can contain bar codes. Also, Connecticut can’t print any ballots yet, because the State Supreme Court still hasn’t decided which party should have the top line on the ballot. The Connecticut Supreme Court will hear arguments over that on September 12.