Every state in the U.S. will have at least one third-party presidential candidate on its ballot this year — except Oklahoma.
Oklahoma ballot access laws required a third-party candidate running for president this year to obtain 43,913 signatures from registered voters before receiving a spot on the ballot, a requirement which is the most restrictive of any state, said Thom Holmes, state chairman of the Constitution party.
The law has been in place since the early 1970s, and recent attempts to change it by Oklahoma legislatures have been unsuccessful.
The law is meant to prevent too many presidential candidates from gaining ballot access, said Michael Clingman, secretary of the Oklahoma State Election Board. He said obtaining tens of thousands of signatures demonstrates that a party truly can mount a viable campaign.
“I think if you just paid your money and got on the ballot, you would find dozens of candidates on the ballot,” he said.
Holmes, however, said there are not dozens of people who want to run for office. He said there have never been more than four presidential candidates on a ballot in U.S. history.
“It seems that the Democrats and Republicans want to have a monopoly,” he said. “When you limit the choices on the ballot to only two, that limits the discussion, the free exchange of ideas.”
Clingman said the signature requirement is also in place to prevent third party candidates from intentionally siphoning votes from of the major parties’ candidates, Clingman said.
“Otherwise it would be a campaign tactic to have a candidate who would draw away support,” he said.
About 35 to 40 percent of Oklahoma candidates have no challenger on Election Day, Holmes said. It might not be this way if third party candidates had easier ballot access.
“They don’t have to go out and campaign and hear about what the voters care about because they’ve got a free ride,” Holmes said of unopposed candidates. “That’s why people are more displeased with their government.”
Oklahoma voters can register as independents, but they still only have the option to vote for Democrat or Republican presidential candidates when they go to the polls.
Holmes said independents are the fastest-growing category of voters in Oklahoma. The number of voters registered as independents has increased by 300 percent in the last decade.
Third-party candidates on the Oklahoma ballot have been few and far between since the ballot access law was put into place, but Reform Party presidential candidate Ross Perot secured a spot on the ballot in 1992. No third parties have gained ballot access in Oklahoma since then, Holmes said.
Whitney Boutin, a Libertarian party supporter, said he does not plan to vote for a presidential candidate this year because he cannot vote for a third-party candidate. Ballots in Oklahoma do not have a blank that would allow voters to write in a candidate’s name.
“For civic society to exist, there should be representation,” Boutin said. “No matter how much our senators or our House representatives say they do, there is still dissatisfaction with the Republicans and Democrats.”
Grant McLoughlin, president of Young Democrats, said this may be so because two major parties are already doing a good job of serving the people.
“If you look at third parties, they don’t get as much traction [in Oklahoma] as much as in states like Minnesota,” said McLoughlin, political science sophomore.
Holmes said a bill to change ballot access laws has been introduced in the legislature every year for the past four years, but it has never been approved.
Holmes thinks Oklahomans should have more choices when they go to the polls.
He said the 2004 Afghan presidential election had 18 candidates on its ballot.
“Are we not as free as [Afghanistan]?” he said. “What is it going to take in Oklahoma for us to have a democratic process in elections?”
Reforming Oklahoma’s ballot access laws would require more than 200,000 petition signatures and a large sum of money, Boutin said.
“There’s got to be some rich people who are interested in changing the way we are, but there’s not,” he said. “People would come out of the woodwork if there was enough money.”
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
prawdz 3 years, 6 months ago
I looked at list of folks who are running for President; 23 candidates. Are 23 candidates too many? Not for me.
As for Grant McLoughlin's comment: "because two major parties are already doing a good job of serving the people." I disagree with McLoughlin; if we have 23 presidential candidates throughtout the nation, lots of people must feel the two parties are not serving them.
If we look at US House of Rep contests - 326 third party candidates are running nation-wide.
Meanwhile - Oklahoma squashes third parties, and provides us the lesser of evil, an r or a d.