Egregious Attempts to Block Third Party Participation Further Disgrace the U.S. Democracy
While it is well known that the electoral process in the United States is not designed to bring the people to power, less well known in Canada are the egregious lengths to which the electoral machines of the main two candidates go to block third party participation. Numerous barriers are in place which make it very difficult for third parties or independent candidates to get on the ballot. The huge expense, even for state races, is also prohibitive.
Elections in the U.S. are also unfair and unequal as they are state based, with the rules in every state different, for registering to vote, for being a registered party, for running for office and getting on the ballot, for fundraising and reporting on funds, and so forth. In general, the rules are designed to the advantage of the cartel machinery, to keep small parties and working people out. And changes to these laws increasingly favor only cartel party forces.
The southern states have long made it difficult simply to register to vote and this continues, often on a racist basis meant to keep Black people from voting. As well, the drawing of district lines for voting and other meddling with the law and registration process are used to favour particular candidates and exclude others.
At the state level, the state Secretary of State controls the voter rolls and can arbitrarily remove people, as has occurred in Virginia and Alabama this year when, based on claims that they were non-citizens, hundreds of eligible voters were removed. As well as skewing the outcome of the vote, this is part of efforts to whip up fear and anger against immigrants who have been labelled as illegals, fraudsters, liars, cheats and more.
Voting rights banner in Poor Peoples March on Washington June 21, 2021.
Laws are also passed to block third party participation. In New York, for example, whereas normally there are several additional parties on the ballot, like the Green Party, Conservative Party, Libertarian Party, this year there are none. New York is a state where the Democratic candidate for president wins, so keeping small parties off the ballot has nothing to do with Democrats' "fear" of losing. It is to ensure no other voice but that of the cartels is allowed.
To get on the ballot in New York it is necessary to gather 45,000 valid signatures of registered voters in a period of 6 weeks with at least 500 or one per cent of enrolled voters coming from at least half of the congressional districts statewide. The Green Party succeeded in getting 46,000 signatures. These were then challenged by the cartel machinery, which declared that less than 45,000 signatures were valid. As a result, Dr. Jill Stein, the presidential candidate of the Green Party, was kept off the ballot.
Candidates outside of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party who could be on the presidential ballot in certain states include Jill Stein for the Green Party, Cornell West -- Independent, Chase Oliver for the Libertarian Party and Claudia De La Cruz for the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Robert Kennedy Jr. who suspended his candidature to join Trumps' campaign might nonetheless appear on the ballot in some states.
Among the small parties that run, the Greens are on the ballot in more states and so often face the brunt of attacks by the cartel machinery. An estimated $500,000 worth of digital ads against them are being run in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, considered key states for Harris. In Ohio, the cartel machinery forced a court case to make sure votes cast for Dr. Stein will not be counted, although she is on the ballot. In Nevada they sued to keep her off the ballot, again claiming problems with the signatures.
The court cases, besides ensuring Greens are excluded, are expensive and time-consuming.
In every state the ballot is different, and thus who electors can vote for is also different. So are the rules over issues like whether write-in votes are allowed and will be counted. Some states will have just Trump and Harris on the ballot; others will have several candidates.
Rules for voting also vary. These include rules for registering to vote, then what is required such as ID on the day of voting. Oregon and Washington State are all mail-in votes. Most other states are a combination of mail-in, early voting and election day voting. This all impacts the speed at which votes are tallied on Election Day and provides grist for challenging the results in court after Election Day.
Keeping in mind that it is possible for a candidate to secure the majority of the popular vote and still lose the Electoral College vote, as Clinton did when she ran against Trump in the 2016 election, another feature of the inequality is that a handful of states, and commonly not the most populous like New York, California and Texas, play deciding roles in determining the Electoral College vote. This means voters in other states are left out of the campaigns and their voice is considered inconsequential. This year, seven states are considered the key states that will determine the outcome of the vote – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
There are a total of 538 electoral college votes, with 270 needed to win. Each state gets the same number as their Congressional delegation, House and Senate combined, and Washington, DC gets three, Puerto Rico none.
This article was published in
Monday, November 4, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/ITN2024/Articles/TI54466.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca