The Oklahoman Endorses Ballot Access Bill that Passed State House

From Richard Winger at Ballot Access News:

The Oklahoman, largest newspaper in Oklahoma, has this rousing editorial in support of the ballot access bill that has already passed the State House. Thanks to Richard Prawdzienski for the link.

From the endorsement:

The House of Representatives this week approved a bill by Speaker Jeff Hickman, R-Fairview, that would greatly reduce the amount of signatures needed for a third party to get on the ballot. Presently, a political party needs to collect signatures of registered voters equal to 5 percent of the last vote cast for the office at the top of the ticket. In presidential election years, that number is particularly large — it would have been about 66,700 after 2012.

House Bill 2181 changes the threshold to 1 percent of the last gubernatorial election — or about 8,000 signatures, based on turnout from the November 2014 election.

That total may seem low, but until 1974, when the law was passed, the state’s requirement for third-party access had been 5,000 signatures. And the current law is a true deterrent. The last third-party presidential candidate to make it onto Oklahoma’s ballot was Pat Buchanan in 2000.

“Our ballot access laws have forced some Oklahomans to register as Democrats who don’t share the beliefs of most Oklahoma Democrats, and some Oklahomans to register as Republicans who don’t share the beliefs of most Oklahoma Republicans,” Hickman said. “There is no reason to be afraid of a debate of ideas between more than two political parties or to be afraid of ballot access systems which work in most other states.”

Amen to that. This is a long-overdue move that merits support.

Editor’s note: In 2000, both Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan and Libertarian Party candidate Harry Browne were on the ballot in Oklahoma. -JZ