Campaign and Election Reform
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We reject today's two-party system, dominated by Republicans and Democrats, in which reason takes a back seat to party loyalty and electoral politics and the logical outcome is a forced choice between the lesser of two evils plus a policy that reflects the interests of the dominant party rather than the interests of the citizens.
Ballot Access
- Grant equal ballot access to smaller legitimate political parties and independents and repeal those laws that restrict third parties from gaining ballot access or official party status. Do not categorize political parties according to scale or stature or otherwise treat them in an unequal fashion.
In identifying candidates on the ballot, experiment with the following:
- Identify the political party of EVERY candidate without exception who declares his or her affiliation.
- Or, eliminate ALL party identifications from the ballot and show only the names of the candidates.
Voting Machines and Vote-Counting: Do not use voting machines which preclude a recount process or leave no "paper trail" by which to recount and verify the individual votes, such as is possible with traditional paper ballots.
Voting Age: Reduce the voting age to 16, subject to passing a test on one's knowledge of U.S. history, the Constitution, and candidates and issues on the current election ballot, and possibly subject to other conditions also.
Financial Contributions
- Allow political contributions only from individuals and organizations representative of individuals, but not from corporations, which are not representative of individuals but instead shield the individual.
- Permit labor organizations to contribute on behalf of their members, as long as those members are allowed to contribute or withhold their personal funds voluntarily.
- The Third Party will keep accurate and accessible records of contributions made to the party, and individual candidates will also be required to maintain highly accurate and detailed financial records.
Public Financing of Campaigns
- Provide tax-funded support of campaigns, including of minor parties and independent candidates, but do not provide funding to be spent by them on TV and radio announcements, which serve little benefit or even have a negative impact on elections.
- Instead, hold state-sponsored debates on radio and TV, in which candidates face their opponents and address political issues. Also publish a listing of the candidates, in a handbook or posted on the Internet, giving ample space to candidates for their presentations. And provide public support in other ways that do not issue funds to campaigns to be spent on propaganda.