Don’t Count On Hearing About More Voting Options

Items from my political notebook with the general election now less than two months away:

The claim that the Commission on Presidential Debates is any type of a fair group is laughable at best, criminal at worst.

The entire concept of this commission was established as a co-venture of the national Democrats and Republicans. While the two sides of the two-headed political monster rarely agree on anything, it seems they do work together very nicely in terms of keeping any other presidential candidate off the debate stage.

Recent news indicated that the Libertarian Party will be on the ballot in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia for the 2020 presidential election.

(Technically the final signatures were being tabulated from the state of Rhode Island but all signs show it just being a formality at this point.)

That means voters in every state will have chance to vote for the Libertarian Party presidential ticket of Jo Jorgensen and Spike Cohen (without having to write them in). It should be noted the Libertarians have pushed for the inclusion of Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins as well on the debate stage. Hawkins will not be on the ballot in every state but technically will be on enough to win in theory.

What’s funny about the CPD is how it pushes the reasoning of exclusion for certain parties and candidates due to the fact they are not polling enough nationally. It’s funny because the polls the CPD uses does NOT include anyone other than President Trump and Joe Biden.

Being on the national presidential debate stage would certainly have an impact on how people voted. Millions of people watch these debates and they are basically free advertising for the candidates.

Without being able to present their stance on the issues to the voters, third parties have no chance. The CPD has been sued numerous times through the years but it continues to deny Americans the opportunity to hear from alternative voices. The reason is simple. What if enough people suddenly realized there were other options? My gosh, they just may decide not to vote for one half of that two-headed political monster.

As for the Libertarians, gaining ballot access for a presidential election in all 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) is quite an accomplishment. They have done it before including the elections of 1980, 1992, 1996 and 2016.

Odd court ruling: In what has to be one of the most bizarre court rulings in some time, the Montana State Supreme Court has upheld the decision of a lower court to remove the Green Party from the general election ballot five months after it officially and legally qualified to be on it.

After Montana’s Secretary of State, a Republican, announced the Green Party had met the requirements to be on the 2020 general election ballot, some Democrats in the state obtained copies of the petition and then began going to the homes of those registered voters who had signed it and asked them to remove their names.

Approximately 600 names were removed as the Democrats then wanted the Secretary of State to remove the Green Party from the ballot for behind below the required number of signatures. By this point the party had actually had a primary and nominated candidates for congress and various state offices.

The Secretary of State did remove some signatures but not enough to disqualify the Green Party.

The Democrats then sued and won the case in state court. The Secretary of State appealed the decision but it was upheld by the state Supreme Court.

Ballot access experts say there is actually no law in Montana which authorizes anyone to remove their signature from a petition. The Montana Supreme Court did not explain its ruling but said it would do so at a later date.

The Secretary of State then asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling but it refused to hear an appeal. Published reports indicate that Justice Elana Kagan, who handles the appeals from states, made the decision not to hear the case without even telling the other U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Make no mistake that Democrats, as well as Republicans, have a long history of fighting against more voter choice. It was the Democrats in Montana. In other states it is common for Republicans to try and keep Libertarians off the ballot. They often win because, quite frankly, many judges do not know what the ballot access laws are and often making rulings going directly against them. In some cases rulings have been made on “laws” which do not exist.

Don’t be fooled into the thinking that the court system in our country is not politically-driven either. All one has to do is look to Montana. You can’t make this stuff up folks.

Monticello native Chris Bridges is a long-time newspaper columnist. He welcomes feedback from readers of The Monticello News at pchrisbridges@gmail.com.