Candidates Gather to Fight for a Fair Chance to Compete in Third Party Election Reform Access Push

Democracy, elections and voting at Democracy Chronicles See our Election Reform in America section for more information.

More often than you might think, major figures from third party candidates gather together from outside of the Democratic and Republican parties in an event that is ignored by the media.  This was definitely the case recently at a debate between third-party candidates that I didn’t personally read about until well after it had taken place.  With the general level of disgust and frustration at the performance of government in America, one might expect that the alternative parties might get more attention.  Clearly, the Green Party is a viable option.  In Europe, there are several examples of Green Parties participating in government.

Recently, on the Common Cause website there was an article by Anjuli Kronheim about the debate and the candidates comments about the state of American elections.  Predictably and regrettably, there was little regard for the efficiency of the election system amongst the candidates.  The debate included five candidates including three candidates seeking the Green Party nomination:

• Rocky Anderson, nominee of the Justice Party
• Roseanne Barr, seeking the Green Party nomination
• Stephen Durham, nominee of Freedom Socialist Party
• Peta Lindsay, nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation
• Dr. Kent Mesplay, seeking the Green Party nomination
• Dr. Jill Stein, seeking the Green Party nomination

It was also interesting to read the section of the article with the comments of individual candidates on election reform:

Ms. Lindsay: The electoral process is a sham and we need movements, not elections to make change

Mr. Anderson: He used to be on the Common Cause board in Utah, and there’s just no trust in our elected officials with the amount of money and corruption in state and local governments. ID laws are trying to keep people out of the process and we need to be the leaders in this fight.

Mr. Mesplay: We need Election Day Registration, public funding of campaigns, National Popular Vote and Proportional Representation.

Ms. Barr: We need a whole new system of counting ballots. The Electoral College was put in place to limit the black vote by the Monsanto Family.

Mr. Durham: Change doesn’t happen with elections.Third parties are shut out of ballot access. We need to restore prisoner voting rights and get rid of voter ID. We need to get rid of the Electoral College and bar SuperPACs.

Ms. Stein: We’re learning about this ALEC cabal – with both Democrats and Republicans – and it’s been behind voter ID laws, it speaks to the problem of money in politics. We need to end corporate personhood, get free air time for all candidates, a constitutional amendment for the right to vote, integrity of our elections, Election Day Registration, and Instant Runoff Voting.