Ohio State Senate changes ballot access rules to eliminate third-party challengers
Ohio’s State Senate passed legislation denying political parties ballot access unless the party received at least three percent of the vote in the prior election cycle. According to Ben Swann, 22 senators voted in favor of the bill, with only 11 senators objecting to the proposed election law.
photo Brandon Jones
During the 2012 Presidential Election, Gary Johnson earned just under one percent of the vote in Ohio. In that state’s 2010 Gubernatorial Election, Libertarian Candidate Ken Matesz received 2.4 percent of the vote, while Green Party Candidate Dennis Spisak won 1.5 percent. Therefore, none of the above-named candidates breached the three-percent threshold required by this corrupted piece of legislation.
The GOP-dominated Ohio State Senate pushed heavily for this bill in reaction to the likelihood many Tea Party and liberty-leaning voters will favor Charlie Earl, expected to be the state’s Libertarian candidate for governor, over incumbent Republican Governor John Kasich in the 2014 Gubernatorial Election.
Smaller political parties unite in opposition to legislation
However, the Libertarian and Green Parties in Ohio have combined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union in opposition to the legislation, and plan to take the proposed law to court should it pass. Charlie Earl told reporters: “What I believe they’ve done is taken four or five pockets of resistance and combined us into one bag of fury. And we’re coming after them. We’re not going to stop.”
For more information on Ben Swann and his crusade to bring legitimate journalism back to the American people, please visit his website and Facebook page.
