Letter to the Editor: Gloucester Township Council Stands Up For Voters Rights

To the Editor:

It is no secret that when we watch the mainstream nightly news or read the major publications, we hear about two political parties.

The Democrats and Republicans control the entire political conversation, but once in awhile we hear about a Green, Libertarian, or independent candidate.

The question is, why are we not hearing more?

This question could be answered in many ways and could claim to be the reason(s) why these parties are not spoken about or well-known as they should be.

Is it because of ballot access laws making it more difficult to get on the ballot for independent and third-party candidates?

Is it because the two parties control election reform laws and purposely make it more difficult for independent and third-party candidates?

Is it because of corporate money and Super PACs that influence the political tone of our country so much that other voices are muted if you don’t play the big money game?  

Is it because there is a monopoly of large corporate interests controlling major media?   

I think all of these play a role in the in the answer, but I think one major reform could make it more difficult for these other barriers from holding back other political voices: open and fair debates!  

Gloucester Township Council recently passed a resolution that encourages the Commission on Presidential Debates to allow for debates that are more inclusive of third-party candidates.

This sounds like a very minor drop in the bucket, but let’s looks at this more closely and why it’s so important -- and why other townships, cities, states, and the federal government should make this a voter’s rights issue.

The Commission on Presidential Debates was created and put into full force in 1988.

Also in 1988, the League of Women Voters gave up sponsorship of the debates to the Commission on Presidential Debates due to their objections of the running of the debates. The Commission on Presidential Debates has had oversight ever since.

After Ross Perot ran in 1992 and garnished almost 20% of the popular vote running under the Reform Party, the Democrats and Republicans quickly realized that to squash any chance of other political parties gaining a foothold, they would have to create rules making it virtually impossible for any other party outside of the Democrats and Republicans from getting into the General Election debates.

This created a two-party dictatorship which put establishment leaders in charge of the political debate system and rules , while having it privately funded by multi-million dollar corporations and donors.

Big money does not only freely infect both major political parties; it has also been spreading throughout our entire political system, controlling even something as basic as our political debates.

Why are debates so important? Let’s make this very simple by putting out facts that can be easily researched and proven.  

In a 2015 Gallup poll, the registered voter stats showed that 26% identified as Republican, 29% as Democrat, and showed that 42% of voters identified as independent.   

This was the fifth consecutive year that independent voters maintained a 40% registration level and outnumbered both Democrats and Republicans.  

As of April 2016, Gallup reported a 44% level of voters claiming to be independent.  In the 2015-2016 debate cycle, between 8 million and 24 million people watched the debates according to Nielsen Data.

So that means that not only are the debates blocking third-party and independent candidates from having their voice and platform heard by millions of registered voters who don’t identify as a Democrat or Republican, but that it is also blocking almost half of registered voters from having more choices and a clearer path to who they want to vote for.

This theoretically gives many voters one choice: voting for the lesser of two evils!

This is a major infraction on U.S. voters, especially when a 2015 Gallup poll showed that 60% of Americans said, “A third major political party is needed because the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job of representing the American people” and 78% of independents say a third party is needed.

The only way we can have a more pure representative democracy is to infuse our debate system with the basic principles of our U.S. Constitution which includes the First Amendment, Freedom of Speech and  “Congress shall make no law … abridging … the right of the people … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” 

Also we must look at the 15th Amendment which says, the right to vote is not to be "denied or abridged on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Congress, by allowing private corporations and private political parties to control who is seen and what is heard in the political debates, is in fact ignoring the Constitution of freedom of speech and abridging our right as voters and candidates to petition our government equally.

It is also forcing voters into a form of “forced electoral servitude,” when millions of voters are forced to only see two political parties on the main stage in the General Election. 

In 2012, the Green Party and Libertarian Party got on enough state ballots and fought through all the hurdles to theoretically garnish enough electoral votes to win the Presidency, and in 2016 the Green Party and Libertarian party are on track to do this once again.

My question to voters is this: what is the point of being on every state ballot and running for office if the voters don’t have the opportunity to hear you?

You as voters, taxpayers, and free people should be angered and demand “open and fair debates,” no matter what your party affiliation. It should be your right to determine what candidate best suits your wants and needs as an American.

In closing, I’d like to say thank you Gloucester Township Council -- I wish other political bodies had your courage to stand up for electoral reform and voters rights.

Maybe the 51 million Americans who are not registered to vote and the other half of registered voters who don’t vote, would, if they had a candidate or political party that represented them.

Hugh Giordano
Blackwood, NJ – homeowner