Oklahoma has the worst ballot-access laws in the nation. To run for president as a third party requires a candidate to collect signatures equal to 5 percent of the number of votes cast in the last presidential/gubernatorial election. To run as an independent requires 3 percent which, although slightly lower, is still impossibly high.

Even under the best case scenario, a third-party candidate or independent attempting to meet the 3 percent signature threshold still has to collect as many as 44,000 valid signatures to get on the ballot. Taking into consideration many signatures end up being invalidated because the signatory is not a registered voter or puts wrong or illegible information, this signature requirement can, in practice, easily double.

In a state with a fairly spread out population, this requirement is extremely difficult to meet. In fact, in the last two presidential elections, Oklahoma stands out as the only state in the entire country where the voters could only cast a vote for a Republican or Democrat.

How do the Republicans and Democrats get on the ballot? So long as they can manage to draw 10 percent of the vote in every presidential and gubernatorial election, they do not have to collect a single signature. With third-party and independent candidates effectively barred from competing with them, something catastrophic would have to occur to prevent them from meeting this benchmark.

So, the system is rigged. Republicans and Democrats get automatic access to the ballot so long as they meet a fairly low level of electoral support and third parties are not even allowed to run unless they meet a nearly impossible signature requirement.

This is bad for democracy and bad for voter choice.

If an independent or a third-party candidate wishes to run for an office, they are basically prevented from doing so. This means fewer choices, fewer ideas, and less debate. Would anyone seriously argue in a country as large and diverse as the U.S., a ballot which features two center-right parties has enough choice?

Even those who are perfectly satisfied voting for Republicans or Democrats should at least recognize the democratic rights of others to run for office and vote for whom they please. Practically speaking, under current Oklahoma ballot access laws, those rights are denied.

Some might argue we need these strict requirements to prevent a flood of choices. However, one need only look at other states to see that is not the case. In Louisiana, for instance, a candidate for president is only required to collect 1,000 signatures or pay a $750 filing fee. Even with this low bar, the state had only nine presidential candidates in 2008..

If we lower the bar, more candidates will be able to run and Oklahomans will have a luxury voters in other states are already afforded: electoral choice.

Obviously the Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature have no incentive to make it easier to be challenged. So the likelihood of them getting behind such a measure is not too great.

But, maybe in the next legislative session after they have passed another bill to intrude upon the private medical decisions of women, they can focus some time on fixing this serious infringement on the democratic rights of their fellow citizens.