The Maggie Phair Institute sponsored a third party presidential debate this past Saturday, April 21st in Los Angeles. The organizer of the event, Casey Peters, asked a representative of Common Cause to ask a question and also present information at a table. I was the lucky representative. The following candidates were in attendance:
- Rocky Anderson, nominee of the Justice Party
- Roseanne Barr, seeking the Green Party nomination
- Stephen Durham, nominee of Freedom Socialist Party
- Peta Lindsay, nominee of the Party for Socialism and Liberation
- Dr. Kent Mesplay, seeking the Green Party nomination
- Dr. Jill Stein, seeking the Green Party nomination
I asked, “What do you think about the wave of states passing Voter ID laws to increase barriers to voting and what would you do as President to increase electoral participation?” All of the candidates were able to answer in 90 seconds, here’s what they said:
Ms. Lindsay: The electoral process is a sham and we need movements, not elections to make change
Mr. Anderson: He used to be on the Common Cause board in Utah, and there’s just no trust in our elected officials with the amount of money and corruption in state and local governments. ID laws are trying to keep people out of the process and we need to be the leaders in this fight.
Mr. Mesplay: We need Election Day Registration, public funding of campaigns, National Popular Vote and Proportional Representation.
Ms. Barr: We need a whole new system of counting ballots. The Electoral College was put in place to limit the black vote by the Monsanto Family.
Mr. Durham: Change doesn’t happen with elections.Third parties are shut out of ballot access. We need to restore prisoner voting rights and get rid of voter ID. We need to get rid of the Electoral College and bar SuperPACs.
Ms. Stein: We’re learning about this ALEC cabal – with both Democrats and Republicans – and it’s been behind voter ID laws, it speaks to the problem of money in politics. We need to end corporate personhood, get free air time for all candidates, a constitutional amendment for the right to vote, integrity of our elections, Election Day Registration, and Instant Runoff Voting.
I don’t know if Jill and Kent answered to pander to me – because most of their ideas are what Common Cause fights for in states across the country, but I think it’s tremendous that these sentiments are being raised in this arena. I wish our current President and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party had to answer questions on Voter ID and increasing participation in our electoral process.
I believe the only reference to election policy questions was in late January when Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich all agreed that there should be English only ballots – therefore limiting access of citizens to the electoral process even further. I would love to hear how all candidates running for President would handle our depressing electoral participation numbers and how they would expand the process to include disenfranchised voters. Maybe the next organizer of the Republican and General Election debates will invite a representative from Common Cause to ask a question? Wink Wink…