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This article is Part 2 in a two-part series reviewing Supreme Court ballot access decisions and the effects of the Court's precedents on independent and third party candidates. You can read Part 1 here. Munro v. Socialist Workers Party (1986) In 1986, the Court accepted a challenge to a Washington state ballot access provision. This provision required third party candidates to receive at least one percent of the vote in the state's blanket primary in order to appear on the general election ba

American elections have come a long way since Dwight D. Eisenhower bought the first television advertising spots ever used for political campaigning in history, employing 20 and 60-second spots to convey his message to the American voters. Before technology, two-way campaigning was difficult. Politicians could only be in one place at a time, often the battles took place in the newspapers -- and the 'two-way' aspect of campaigning, especially the collection of donations, was difficult to mainta

As with past election cycles, third party and independent candidates – as well as initiatives aimed at reducing the power of the two major parties – are struggling to achieve access to general election ballots. In some cases, this is the result of general apathy toward specific parties, candidates, or reforms. In other cases, however, their exclusion from the ballot stems from a variety of causes, including minor technicalities, official ineptitude, constitutionally dubious legal barriers, and,

Evan McMullin’s first full week as a candidate for president has been both surprising and, for some of us, predictable. McMullin talks and acts like a seasoned candidate, and not like a novice traversing his first national campaign. Predictable are the dismissive tones from a political class heart hardened to newcomers. The most successful independent and insurgent candidates burst forth riding a sugar high of excitement, generating animated crowds looking for the new, and garnering quizzical b

The Debate Since 9/11, one of the defining fault lines in American and Western politics has concerned whether jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIS are motivated by their religion or by politics – or more specifically, by grievances against Western foreign policy. Some insist that Islamic doctrine is the basis of their violence, while others insist that such groups are not truly Islamic, but are instead using the guise of religion to lash out against Western influence and intervention. Wha

Over the past month, the courts have systematically begun to dismantle voter suppression laws in 4 states. Texas, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Kansas have all seen various laws designed to 'protect the ballot box' struck down as merely attempts to suppress the vote. And this action can't be blamed on 'liberal activist judges,' considering that most of the rulings have come from some of the most conservative courts in the nation -- including the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld, took the national stage for the second time during a CNN town hall event Wednesday night. Polling near the 15% threshold to qualify for the fall presidential debates, Johnson and Weld made the case that they are the best alternative to the two broadly unpopular major party tickets. News broke Wednesday that a new CNN survey shows Johnson polling at 15% in midwestern states. A Fox News 3-way race shows Johnson polli

In the weeks since the California primary, when Hillary Clinton joined Donald Trump in becoming her party’s presumptive nominee for president, FairVote has tracked both candidates’ campaign appearances. FairVote’s similar analysis in 2012 showed just how much the candidates focus on swing states that might tip the election with our current Electoral College rules. After the conventions in 2012, Barack Obama campaigned in a grand total of just eight states and Mitt Romney added only two more. The

The Greens Presidential Nominating Convention is not until August 4, in Huston, Texas, where one of 5 candidates will win the national ticket. Greens currently have ballot access in 22 states. In an ironic similarity to mainstream Republican and Democratic campaigns, Stein is considered a shoo-in for the Greens, and there is a push to knock her "entitled" campaign out of the winning. Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry, a Green presidential candidate from Los Angeles, CA, says that she wants Stein to st

“Americans vote for their president.” Well, yes and no. America’s presidential election system relies on the Electoral College, a group of men and women chosen by state parties to vote in their favor. When Americans go to the polls, they choose their candidate of choice, and trust that the party electors will vote as the citizens have chosen. Each state has a certain number of electors: California has the most, with 55; other states, like Montana, Wyoming, and Alaska, have as few as three. The