Ballot access rules, called nomination rules outside the United States, regulate the conditions under which a candidate or political party is either entitled to stand for election or to appear on voters' ballots. The criterion to stand as a candidate depends on the individual legal system, however they may include the age of a candidate, citizenship, endorsement by a political party and profession. Legal restrictions, such as those based around competence or moral aptitude, can be used in a discriminatory manner. Restrictive and discriminatory ballot access rules can impact the civil rights of candidates, political parties and voters.
Read more about Ballot Access: Overview of Ballot Access, State Laws, The Constitution, and International Human Rights, Write-in Status Versus Ballot Access, Other Obstacles Facing Third Parties, Justification of Strict Ballot Access Laws By Two Party Supporters
Famous quotes containing the words ballot and/or access:
“We are told it will be of no use for us to ask this measure of justice—that the ballot be given to the women of our new possessions upon the same terms as to the men—because we shall not get it. It is not our business whether we are going to get it; our business is to make the demand.... Ask for the whole loaf and take what you can get.”
—Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906)
“Knowledge in the form of an informational commodity indispensable to productive power is already, and will continue to be, a major—perhaps the major—stake in the worldwide competition for power. It is conceivable that the nation-states will one day fight for control of information, just as they battled in the past for control over territory, and afterwards for control over access to and exploitation of raw materials and cheap labor.”
—Jean François Lyotard (b. 1924)