from the press release
Republicans and Democrats Fight Over Ballot Access for Green Party
As Texans celebrate Independence Day, the Libertarian Party calls for voters to declare independence from corrupt political parties that try to use courts, tricks, and legislation to subvert the will of the voters.
"Recent events have further confirmed the corrupt practices of the Republican and Democratic parties in manipulating elections to their benefit" says Libertarian Party of Texas state chair Pat Dixon. "They prefer lawsuits, manipulations, and prohibitions. We prefer empowering voters to make choices in an open competition."
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The Libertarian Party of Texas is alarmed that Judge Dietz removed the Green Party from the Texas ballot.
"If a judge can remove one political party from the ballot today, what would prevent another judge from removing the Libertarian Party or any other party from the ballot tomorrow?" asked Dixon.
The Libertarians condemned both the Republican and Democratic parties for manipulating the ballot access laws instead of running on their records and their plans for the future.
"We would rather have a fair fight on a level playing field than use the power of the state to protect us from fair competition," Dixon said.
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The Libertarian Party has worked over several legislative sessions to reform election laws and promote more reasonable ballot access laws. Unfortunately both Democratic and Republican state legislators have become increasingly hostile to such efforts. Additionally, Libertarians have had to fight introduction of more restrictive election laws in recent years. Last year the party was successful in defeating HB 1982, which would have introduced unjustified and prohibitive requirements on minor party candidates and would have imposed a $37 million burden on taxpayers over the next decade.
"Republicans now play Machiavellian games to manipulate the vote by placing the Green Party on the ballot, yet propose laws to further restrict choice on the ballot" says Dixon. "Democrats are no better, claiming they defend the rights of voters yet file lawsuits against minor parties. Clearly, neither party is sincere in their concern for the voter. This is all an effort by these corrupt parties to control how votes get split."
Dixon proposes electoral reform, instead of lawsuits and manipulations, to solve the vote splitting issue. He is a proponent of Approval Voting, in which voters would not have to split their vote and the candidate with the highest approval would win.
"Defending choice on the ballot is consistent with the Libertarian Party's work with independent candidates and other parties, including the Green Party, to foster competition and choice in elections" says state chair Pat Dixon. "We understand having other parties and independent candidates on the ballot can split our vote and result in lower votes cast for Libertarians. Regardless of political ramifications, Libertarians remain committed in principle to defend the rights of voters."
The Libertarian Party maintains that greater inclusion of candidates and parties has not posed problems in the past. Before 1967, any party could be on the Texas ballot with no petition at all. It just had to hold a state convention, plus county conventions in any 20 counties. Texas never had more than six parties on its ballot in the entire history of government-printed ballots, which started in Texas in 1903.
State committee member Michael Lee offered the following message to the Green Party: "We believe the voters of Texas deserve as many choices as possible and we wish you well in your endeavors to fight the entrenched politicians in Austin and Washington, D.C."
Libertarian state Attorney General candidate Jon Roland added "We hope to have candidates of the Green Party join us on the ballot, in debate, and in the softball games we have long enjoyed playing against one another."
Dixon added "Voters should no longer be dependent on corrupt political parties that try to rig the game by making choices for them. Voters need to declare their independence and be free to make their own choices this November. We don't know if the Green Party will be on the ballot, but Libertarians will."
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http://lptexas.org/content/republicans-and-democrats-fight-over-ballot-a...
