Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 03/25/2005 5:16:26 AM PST by freepatriot32
Texas is the only state that prohibits voters who participate in a political party's primary election or a local party convention from signing ballot access petitions for political parties or independent candidates for office. Since 1972, the six other states that had a similar provision have dropped it.
Now, the Libertarian Party of Texas is working with state legislators to get a bill passed to eliminate this facet of election law, which is called "primary screenout."
On Feb. 28, State Representative Todd Baxter, a Republican, filed the bill (HB 1721) for consideration by the state House's Elections Committee after Libertarians crafted the original language and lobbied for its support.
"It has been great working with Rep. Baxter and other legislators to craft this bill and help restore some trust in the electoral process," said Patrick Dixon, chairman of the Libertarian Party of Texas. "He has been very helpful and cooperative in this effort."
Since being filed by Baxter, the bill has received several co-author signatures from other state representatives, including Democrat Mark Strama and Republicans Terry Keel and Suzanna Gratia Hupp.
"It is time Texas respected the rights of voters," Dixon added. "Texas currently stands alone in denying the right specifically stated in the First Amendment to petition.
"When voters participated in the Republican and Democratic primaries in March of 2004, nobody told them that they lost their right to sign a petition. In May of 2004 when we were permitted to start collecting petitions, we had to turn away these voters that wanted to exercise their freedom of speech."
In 2004, Libertarians in Texas collected more than 82,000 petition signatures in order to qualify the party for the general election ballot in November.
Similar ballot access drives by the Green Party, the Constitution Party and Ralph Nader failed to reach the required number, so their candidates were not allowed on the ballot.
Texas Libertarians Quanah Parker and Tom Oxford, two 2004 candidates for Criminal Court of Appeals, earned well over the 5 percent minimum needed under Texas law to trigger automatic ballot access for the Libertarian Party in the 2006 election, meaning the state party won't have to petition for ballot access that year.
Dixon encouraged Texas Libertarians -- and anyone else in the state who is interested in more reasonable ballot access laws -- to visit www.LPTexas.org, learn more about the bill, and ask their elected legislators to support it.
Worth repeating but what i want to know is where the heck was the supreme court on this since 1972 ?
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Texas Libertarians managed to elect a Liberal Democrat to the statehouse in our county.
Maybe the Liberal Democrats will support it - they are the main 'winners' from it.
Oh wait a second, there he is ... "Democrat Mark Strama"
...Libertarians crafted the original language and lobbied for its support.
Sounds like more incompetent Libertarians working against their own best interest.
Why Libertarians can't understand that it was those tough ballot access laws that actually helped build the Party into being America's only true third party, always amazes me.
Why the Party of individual responsibility, abandons that principle, and whines for some free welfare support for itself, also is quite baffling.
But most confusing of it all, is their lobbying effort on behalf of the Green Party, the Constitution Party and the likes of Ralph Nader. It seems to me, that libertarians have enough problems getting their own message across, and shouldn't be working overtime assisting all those other buffoons.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.