The Republicans in Pennsylvania are not only going after Democrats, they have challenged the statewide petitions of the Libertarian and Constitution parties. According to the September issue of the Ballot Access News, Pennsylvania is the only state in which a court checks the validity of the signatures, and then can assess the challenged party the court costs. That can run a party as much as $100,000.
Because of this, the Constitution Party withdrew its petition. It had 35,000 signatures; the state requires 20,601. The Constitution Party decided it could not afford to take a chance.
The Libertarians, with 49,600 signatures, are fighting the Republican challenge.
The Republicans did not challenge the Green Party petition. They want the Green Party on the ballot to siphon off votes from President Obama. The Democrats, who play fair, also did not challenge the Greens.
What a travesty. One is to believe that we are in a democracy. Apparently we do not. With the two parties having a controlling grip on things that dominate there interests only and do not allow for third parties to succeed without jumping through all kind of hoops. Its no wonder a lot of people just do not vote. At times I see there point and feel the same way. Seems like we are always voting for the lesser of two evils anyway.
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