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Minority Party Candidates Stuck In Registration Limbo

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Aug 19, 2005 00:41

Washington State Secretary of State Sam Reed issued rules last month that place minority party candidates in a registration limbo. Unable to initiate their campaigns until a month after their Democrat and Republican competitors, minority party candidates are now required to jump through an additional hoop -- go through the formality of a nominating convention. One candidate's solution? Hold a nominating convention at Hempfest.

Emergency rules issued by Sam Reed following last month's decision regarding the primary serve to delay access to registration for minor party candidates throughout the state. According to the Secretary of State's office, at least 13 counties have partisan elections this year in which minor party candidates will register next week between August 21st and 26th. Gentry Lange, Green for King County Executive  http://www.gentrylange.com , is one of the candidates caught in this year's registration limbo.

According to Lange, “It really is detrimental to the campaign that I am not allowed to register until a full month after the Democrat and the Republican in this race. My own volunteers have contacted me wondering if I am still running for this office, and I have to explain the convoluted details of Washington's primary saga, over and over. In addition, without being formally registered as a candidate in this race, it has caused a virtual media blackout of my campaign. If minor party candidates are to have any chance at all of getting their message out, it is through the media. Not being allowed to register is devastating."

Regarding these emergency rules, Mr. Lange stated bluntly, “The nominating convention process is simply one of the many extra hoops that minor party candidates are forced to jump through before being allowed access to the ballot. This year is a perfect example of how these extra rules negatively affect the campaigns of candidates who don't happen to have a D or an R after their name.”

The emergency nominating convention to get Mr. Lange on the ballot is this Saturday at Hempfest. On this topic, Gentry Lange is right on message, “The Green Party is clearly against the drug war so Hempfest is an obvious choice. I doubt I will see David Irons or Ron Sims campaigning at this event. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party simply agree that the drug war should continue indefinitely. Just like the war on terrorism, there is no real opposition within either party to the wars our government wages in our names.”

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