This Boston Globe column suggests that the Democratic and Republican Parties of Massachusetts should cease keeping candidates off their own party’s primary ballots. Party rules for both major parties in Massachusetts say that candidates cannot petition for a spot on a statewide primary unless those candidates get at least 15% of the vote at state conventions. The Massachusetts election law has no such provision, but both federal and state courts in Massachusetts have upheld the ability of the major parties to the 15% rule. Democrats invented it in the early 1980’s and Republicans later copied the idea.