State Laws, The Constitution, and International Human Rights
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President George H.W. Bush signed the Copenhagen Document of the Helsinki Accords that states in part:
| “ | (7.5) - respect the right of citizens to seek political or public office, individually or as representatives of political parties or organizations, without discrimination;
(7.6) - respect the right of individuals and groups to establish, in full freedom, their own political parties or other political organizations and provide such political parties and organizations with the necessary legal guarantees to enable them to compete with each other on a basis of equal treatment before the law and by the authorities;... |
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The United States has been criticized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for its harsh ballot access laws in the past. In 1996, United States delegates responded to the criticism by saying, unfair ballot access "could be remedied through existing appeal and regulatory structures and did not represent a breach of the Copenhagen commitments."
The OSCE published a report on the 2004 United States election, which, among other things, noted restrictive ballot access laws.
The United States and Switzerland are the only countries in the world that don’t have national ballot access standards for federal elections; however in Swiss federal elections each Canton elects its own representatives, and each candidate can only be listed in one Canton. Since 1985, Democrats and Republicans (including Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Congressman Tim Penny (D-MN) and Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX)) have repeatedly introduced in the US House of Representatives a bill that would set maximum ballot access requirements for House elections. The bill has only made it to the House floor once, in 1998, when it was defeated 62-363.
While some supporters of easy ballot access seek congressional intervention, other reformers are happy congress has not mandated stricter access laws in all states. Reducing access requirements at the local level would be easier than doing so federally if congress wanted to guarantee its re-elections.
Read more about this topic: Ballot Access
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