Washblog || Sick of Unopposed Candidates?

Sick of Unopposed Candidates?

By Linde Knighton
Sat Aug 25, 2007 at 09:06:19 PM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Election Integrity

If you were annoyed by the 36 unopposed candidates on the ballot in the state election, plus the ones in the King County one, there is a group called, "More Voter Choice" working to give us all more choices. This group is working for legislation in the next session of the state legislature to change the esoteric laws restricting ballot access for independent and 3rd party candidates in this state.

http://www.morevoterchoice.info

Right now, Rs and Ds sign up and pay their money. Meanwhile, all the others have to:

Run an ad in the newspaper under public notices.
Hold a "Nominating Convention" sometime within a one week period in May.
Ask voters, during a single day, to say they attended the "Nominating convention" and sign so candidates can apply to be on the ballot.
Must gather signatures at the same address advertised in the newspaper ad.
Gather 100 perfect signatures if running for state legislature or county office. Gather 1,000 perfect signatures for all other partisan offices. This means gather 200 or 2,000 signatures in reality.
The state or county verifies signatures. If one is lacking, candidate does not get on the ballot.
Sign up as a candidate and pay the fee.

This left two districts with all of their legislative candidates running unopposed, while only one 3rd party legislative candidate (me) made in on the ballot in the whole state. If you want more choices, or just think it could be a little more fair, please go to http://www.morevoterchoice.info
to read the whole thing, and sign the petition that is going to the legislative committees in charge.

Read the comments, some are a real challenge to politics as usual.
Linde Knighton

< King County wants to steal the elections. | Burn Bush! Kos & mcjoan & goldie ... >

Sick of Unopposed Candidates? | 8 comments (8 topical)

My 22nd LD reps

I'm glad to see that my two reps, Sam Hunt and Brendan Williams co-sponsored this bill last session. Hopefully it gets more traction this next session.

________________
I blog here.

by emmettoconnell on Sun Aug 26, 2007 at 10:05:46 AM PST

* 1 none 0 *

Sam Hunt by Linde Knighton, 08/29/2007 02:42:31 PM PST (none / 0)

What would change

I had to read the legislation a couple of times to understand what would change.

Under the proposed law, instead of having to hold a convention and gather the signatures there.... third party candidates would merely need to gather the signatures.

This seems reasonable. It's one of several changes that would open up some choice to voters in elections -- make them meaningful again.

by noemie maxwell on Sun Aug 26, 2007 at 01:17:02 PM PST

* 2 none 0 *

Duverger's Law

I recently learned about this theory for the rise of two political parties in a winner-takes-all election system:

Duverger's Law

Duverger's law is a principle which asserts that a plurality rule election system naturally leads to a two-party system. The discovery of this principle is attributed to Maurice Duverger, a French sociologist who observed the effect and recorded it in several papers published in the 1950s and 1960s. In the course of further research, other political scientists began calling the effect a "law". Duverger's law suggests a nexus or synthesis between a party system and an electoral system: a proportional representation (PR) system creates the electoral conditions necessary to foster party development while a plurality system marginalizes many smaller, single-issue political parties.

by zappini on Mon Aug 27, 2007 at 10:43:03 AM PST

* 3 none 0 *

Does it really matter WHEN coalitions are formed? by eridani, 08/28/2007 02:32:26 AM PST (none / 0)

Coalitions by zappini, 08/28/2007 10:12:37 AM PST (none / 0)

Duverger's Law by Linde Knighton, 08/29/2007 02:40:50 PM PST (none / 0)

There's A Difference

A Parliamentary system refers to a form of government. A proportional voting system is how elections are held.

For example, the UK has a parliament while they use a "first past the post" system like we generally do. A FPTP system in not proportional - the top vote getter from the district gets elected as minister. This minister then goes to parliament where they vote on a "prime minister" who leads government.

by knovoselic on Mon Sep 03, 2007 at 12:24:09 PM PST

* 8 none 0 *

Sick of Unopposed Candidates? | 8 comments (8 topical)

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