Articles by Jake Simms

While Donald Trump stunned the world by defeating Hillary Clinton, a small percentage of political outsiders watched the results to see if they could capitalize on an election season that left few feeling good about the state of politics in the United States. Even a small percentage of the popular vote can save hundreds of thousands of dollars by reducing bureaucratic roadblocks, and even bring in millions of dollars for future growth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faywG03EHQY Spanning from ...

In our fourth episode of Third Candidates, we follow Gary Johnson and Jill Stein from June to September at various 2016 campaign stops as they try to capitalize on their unique opportunities in a highly unusual election season. Interviews with Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, their supporters, political leaders, and other activists highlight the goals and emotions that fuel the people who throw themselves against insane odds and a relentless election system. Both the Green Party and the Libertarians ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtSH7n9NZFw Maine’s “Question 5” is a citizen initiative that, if passed on November 8, would implement Ranked Choice Voting, for all statewide elections. Our current voting method, First Past the Post (aka Plurality), is one of the simplest methods of conducting democratic elections. This simplicity comes with a downside, however, and many experts on voting methods claim it is one of, if not the worst methods in regards to capturing the true sentiment of the pu...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65AZr335FWc We over at Third Candidates took time this summer and fall to learn more about the process independent and third party candidates go through in order to be granted ballot access. Like a lot of things in our system, ballot access is badly in need of simplification so political competition can be a little more free flowing. Just like getting on a debate stage, being on the ballot brings an air of viability to a candidate. Keeping that at arms length is...

We over at Third Candidates took a look at the controversial debate access criteria that has been criticized for keeping third party and independent candidates out the important presidential debates. We spoke with political experts, the authors of this criteria - the Commission on Presidential Debates, and critics who claim that the criteria is intentionally unfair to keep out competitive, non-major party candidates. While Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill ...

We all know by now the 2016 election has been historic for many reasons. Revolutions called for, walls promised, and glass ceilings shattered. Now we are eyeing a possibility that third parties get 10% or beyond of the popular vote (most experts will take the under, I’ll be saucy and take the over). There still seems to be some lingering stench of disappointment in the process that brought us two historically disliked candidates. For anyone hoping for some changes here, I have a humble recommen...