Indiana Election Law -- The Inside Joke They Don't Want You to Hear

Democrats and Republicans have done it again. They've colluded to keep twelve Libertarian candidates around the state off the ballot. How? Simple. They've passed yet another law designed to trip up Indiana's Libertarian Party. As if minimum vote percentages for ballot access and for major party status weren't enough, the General Assembly just this year passed a law that went into effect upon passage that is clearly aimed at the state's third largest party.

Mike Kole, the Libertarian's Secretary of State candidate, reports that the party filed their post-convention vacancy candidates' paperwork with the Indiana Election Division just like they always have. Not good enough, according to the IED, though. The candidates were required to file a "10-day notice of intent" to fill the vacancies with the IED. The law gives no reason for the notice, and it provides no form for doing so. It seems to serve no function other than to frustrate Libertarian candidacies.

This is reminiscent of the attempt by the Kernan and Daniels' campaigns to keep Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Kenn Gividen from the debates in 2004. It harms the voters by taking away their choices, and it violates the spirit of free and open elections. In some of the races where the Libs were scratched, there was either no Republican or Democrat candidate. In other words, in those races, the General Assembly has ensured victory for their party mates.

Like the public outcry over the Gividen snub resulted in Gividen being allowed in the debates, Indiana voters should scream for election law reform. This is a prime example of why Indiana's election law needs gutted and replaced with common sense.