[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 15917]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       SUPPORT VOTER FREEDOM ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 14, 2004

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, political operatives across the country are 
using state ballot access laws to deny voters the opportunity to 
support independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader. For example, 
one New York election lawyer has publicly stated that partisan election 
lawyers should take advantage of New York's complex and costly ballot 
access procedures to keep Mr. Nader off the New York ballot. Meanwhile, 
a state party chairman in Arizona has hired a team of lawyers for the 
sole purpose of keeping Mr. Nader off the Arizona ballot.
  The effort to keep Mr. Nader off the ballot shows how ballot access 
laws preserve the two party monopoly over the political system by 
effectively disenfranchising supporters of third parties and 
independent candidates. While the campaign against Mr. Nader is an 
extreme case, supporters of the two party monopoly regularly use ballot 
access laws to keep third party and independent candidates off ballots. 
Even candidates able to comply with onerous ballot access rules must 
devote so many resources to simply getting on the ballot that their 
ability to communicate their ideas to the general public is severely 
limited. Perhaps the ballot access laws are one reason why voter 
turnout has been declining over the past few decades. After all, almost 
42% of eligible voters have either not registered to vote or have 
registered as something other than Democrat or Republican.
  The United States Constitution gives Congress the authority to 
regulate the time, place, and manner of federal elections. Thus, ballot 
access is one of the few areas where Congress has explicit 
Constitutional authority to establish national standards. In order to 
open up the political process, I have introduced the Voter Freedom Act 
(HR 1941). HR 1941 established uniform standards for ballot access so 
third party and independent candidates can at last compete on a level 
playing field.
  The blatant attempt by a major party to keep Ralph Nader off state 
ballots demonstrates how restrictive ballot access laws are used to 
preserve a political monopoly, limit voters' choices, and deny the 
rights of millions of Americans who support third parties and 
independent candidates an opportunity to effectively participate in the 
political process. I call upon my colleagues to remedy this situation 
by supporting my Voter Freedom Act.

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