The October 3 edition of the Indianapolis Star has this editorial, advocating several election law reforms, including ballot access reform. The editorial is good, but it omits a lot of relevant information. Indiana is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot, even though he placed third in the presidential elections of 2000, 2004, and 2008. The editorial should have mentioned that. Other important minor party and independent presidential candidates who have been omitted from Indiana’s ballot include John G. Schmitz in 1972, Eugene McCarthy in 1976, and Ron Paul in 1988. Parties that never qualified a statewide candidate in Indiana include the Natural Law Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party.
Indiana is the only state with difficult ballot access in which there never seems to be any activism to change the laws. One problem is that Indiana legislative rules require bills to be introduced in December of the year before the session starts. Now is the time for anyone who lives in Indiana, and who wants to do something about the ballot access problem, to be seeking legislators to sponsor bills in 2011. Thanks to Mark Rutherford and also Jay Parks for the link.
Richard —
Thanks for re-posting the Indianapolis Star editorial on ballot access. I would like to point out that the reason this is becoming an issue is solely due to Mike Wherry’s campaign for Indiana Secretary of State. He has been pushing hard for opened ballot access for all parties as part of his campaign to oversee Indiana’s elections.
His interview with the Star’s editorial board was a real turning point. So, yes, it’s an uphill battle, but we’re definitely working toward that goal.
Regards,
Dan Drexler
Being from Indiana you might be interested to know that it was the only state where the state and local AP/AIP ticket was allowed on the ballot in 1972, however the candidate for preisdent, Rep. John Schmitz wasn’t. At the time you need 8,000+ signatures to get on the ballot. He did get the signatures needed. The problem was that they were gathered by two different groups, the American Party and the American Independent Party (a preview of things in the future) and you were not allowed to combine the two petitions. My guess is that Schmitz missed out on getting at least 50,000 votes.(Paragraph) Also, because of Ron Paul not getting on the ballot as the LP candidate, they filed a lawsuit against the ban on write-ins in Indiana. The court ruled for them after the election. If you want to cast a write-in vote in the November elections, thank Ron Paul and the Libertarians.