GOP acts to ban Libertarians & Greens from the ballot

GOP Fears Democracy May Break Out

• A corrupt Ohio GOP rammed through the John Kasich Re-Election Protection Act which would disenfranchise every Ohio voter by taking away their right to vote for smaller political parties. 
• It is all about power and fucking over the average voter.

Here we go again!  -  Just last week the corrupt GOP & Dem ruling Elites in Virginia banned the Libertarian Party from the debate for Governor even though the party was polling 11% of the vote.

Now we see the Ohio Republican Party trying to "fix" the 2014 election for Governor by effectively banning all smaller political parties from the ballot.  So much for freedom.

A measure of oppressive new election rules for minor political parties passed the state Senate on Tuesday despite concerns from members of the Libertarian and Green parties that the changes would obstruct their access to the ballot and create huge hurdles for their candidates that the "major" parties do not have to face.

 

The proposal was rammed through the Republican-controlled Senate on a 22-11 vote, with one GOP senator joining Democrats in opposition. The bill now goes to the GOP controlled House.

 

Gary Daniels, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, told a Senate committee earlier Tuesday that the proposed petition requirements are onerous for third parties and that the changes come too close to the 2014 election, especially for candidates who are collecting signatures for office reports the Associated Press.

 

GOP Gov. John Kasich
"Corruptus in Extremis"

The proposal comes as Ohio Republicans face growing competition from tea party supporters who say they may support a third-party challenger to Republican Gov. John Kasich next year.

 

Seitz's bill would require minor parties to gather petition signatures from at least 1 percent of the total vote cast in the most recent election for governor or president.

 

That's more than 56,000 valid signatures using last year's election numbers just to appear on a ballot.  A massive task for smaller parties.  It also means parties must collect far, far more that this minimum because of signature attrition.

To remain a qualified political party, groups must get 3 percent of the total votes cast in the following gubernatorial or presidential election.

 

No third-party candidate in the most recent elections has reached those numbers.

But the law discriminates against any new party that may not want to run a candidate for President.  Perhaps a new party might only want to address Ohio issues, not Federal issues.

 

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson garnered 0.9 percent, or 49,493 votes, in the 2012 presidential election. In the 2010 gubernatorial race, Libertarian candidate Ken Matesz got 2.4 percent of the vote, while Green Party candidate Dennis Spisak won 1.5 percent.

 

Charlie Earl, a Libertarian candidate for governor, opposes the bill and predicted it would unite disenfranchised voters.

 

"What I believe they've done is taken four or five pockets of resistance and combined us into one bag of fury," he told reporters. "And we're coming after them. We're not going to stop."

Banned by the GOP?

 

Many third parties choose to build support by running in small, local campaigns before progressing to expensive and challenging presidential elections, but the Ohio bill only bases its judgment on presidential elections.  Any third party candidate from a party which chooses to focus its limited time and money on winnable campaigns would be at an immediate disadvantage.

Many Americans who want limited government are dissatisfied with both parties. They feel there is no real opposition party that seeks a responsible fiscal policy. Establishment Republicans are threatened by the growing competition from tea party supporters and liberty activists who are say they may support a third-party challenger to incumbent moderate Republicans.

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A statement from the Libertarian Party of Ohio’s website says, “The bottom line is that the John Kasich Re-election Protection Act would disenfranchise every Ohio voter by taking away their right to vote for a candidate for governor other than a) John Kasich, a governor who has miserably failed the state of Ohio and betrayed millions of fiscal conservatives who expected him to follow Ohio law and oppose Obamacare, or b) the nominee of the other big-government party who is promising to double down on most of Kasich’s failing policies.”

Read more: Ben Swann.com

 "Corruptus in Extremis"

 In 2010 Republican John Kasich only won by 2.5% of the vote.  In the Attorney

General's race right-of-center parties took 6.2% of the vote.  Banning other

parties is a naked attempt to hold on to power.   

 

Former Ohio State Representative Charlie Earl announced that he is running for governor as a Libertarian Party candidate next year. By Tuesday, Seitz was holding hearings on his new bill that would make it difficult for Earl to stay on the ballot.

 

Earl ran as the Libertarian candidate for Ohio Secretary of State in 2010 and received nearly 5 percent of the vote. In his announcement, Earl claimed he had “Tea Party support.”

Green Party congressional candidate Bob Hart told the Senate committee that the bill was blatantly unfair, “by eliminating all Green voters from the state of Ohio in 2014, prohibiting a primary, which is where Green voters are created, and then demanding that the candidate go out and petition nonexistent Green voters to get on the ballot.”

All existing minor parties would be thrown off the ballot under the GOP bill.  (Columbus Free Press.com)

Ohio Governor's Race election in Ohio, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	John Kasich - Mary Taylor	1,849,842	49.33%
	Democratic	Ted Strickland - Yvette McGee Brown	1,752,790	46.74%
	Libertarian	Ken Matesz - Ann Leech	89,499	2.39%
	Green	Dennis Spisak - M. Anita Rios	56,797	1.51%
	N/A	David Sargent - Andrew C. Pfeifer (write-in)	864	0.02%
Totals			3,749,792	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

 

Ohio Attorney General election in Ohio, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Mike DeWine	1,821,414	47.54%
	Democratic	Richard Cordray (Incumbent)	1,772,728	46.26%
	Constitution	Robert Owens	130,065	3.39%
	Libertarian	Marc Allan Feldman	107,521	2.81%
Totals			3,729,428	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

 

Ohio Secretary of State election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Jon Husted	1,973,422	54.04%
	Democratic	Maryellen O'Shaughnessy	1,500,648	41.09%
	Libertarian	Charles Earl	179,495	4.87%
Totals			3,653,565	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

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California Abolished Free Elections.
For 160 years (1850 to 2010) all political parties and independents were listed on the November election ballots so the people would have a wide variety of choices.  But freedom is no more. 

In a corrupt back room deal, with no public hearings, the state's Democrats, GOP State Senator Abel Maldonado (above left) and GOP Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (and backed by other Republicans) abolished party primaries in California and only the top two vote getters were allowed on the general election ballots.
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Four  California opposition parties from both the Left and the Right were effectively banned from all future general election ballots - The American Independent Party, the Green Party, the Peace and Freedom Party and the Libertarian Party.
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But it gets worse.  All write-in votes are illegal and will not be counted by the all-powerful and corrupt ruling Elites.
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Both Republican and Democrat leaders were happy to eliminate ballot opposition.
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Now the only parties on November ballots are the ones flooded with countless millions in corrupt union and business campaign contributions.  Each group is looking to rape the treasury and line their pockets with taxpayer cash. 

"I support the GOP efforts in Ohio."
Fidel Castro
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Dictators from Caesar to Napoleon to Lenin were ahead of the GOP in abolishing free elections.  It looks like the "Conservative" freedom loving Republican Party is in good company.

Our Founding Fathers Died for Freedom
Just what the Hell does the GOP stand for any more?