From Peter Orvetti at Green Party Watch:
Jill Stein’s Green Party presidential campaign has launched an online petition calling on the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) to open the 2016 debates to alternative party candidates.
The campaign notes that “50% of Americans do not identify as either Democrat or Republican,” and the CPD “is actually a private organization run by the Democratic and Republican parties.” The campaign is calling for the debates to include candidates from all parties on the ballot in enough states to theoretically achieve an electoral vote majority. In 2012, that would have been the Democratic and Republican nominees, as well as Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson.
Stein and vice presidential running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested in October 2012 when they attempted to enter the grounds of the presidential debate site at Hofstra University in New York. At the time, Stein called the debate a “mockery of democracy.”
On in 2012
The debates should include all nominees of the FEC parties. This would add the CP to the mix. We are also working on our ballot access, just adding several states where the CP wasn’t on in 2015.