GA SB 112
Do you agree with removing all current petition signature requirements that independents or third party candidates must gather to have their name placed on an election ballot when running for an office?
RESULTS AS OF March 13, 2018
18% Counties Reported
70% Voted YES | 8% MAYBE | 22% NO
Survey Respondent Comments
Liberals would jump on this just to create trouble.
But petitions of indigency should not require circulation for signatures of any number by any candidate.
The basic requirements for having your name placed on the ballot, for any public election in Georgia should still able. These have the candidates swear to obey the Georgia, U.S. Constitutions, and Not BE a member of the Communist Party.
I think we need to put professional politicians out of business and start electing patriotic citizens who want to do what’s best for the community.
Two parties need to have competition
Anyone meeting Constitutional requirements for President, should be able to be put on ballot. This provides the People with the opportunity to vote for someone other than the candidate offered up because of party primaries.
It makes it too hard and too expensive for some honest person to run for office. Everyone should have a fair and equal chance, regardless of wealth. It seems that only wealthy men and women can run for office. The poor, but honest, person doesn’t have a chance because of the strict requirements.
we don’t need a dozen candidates running for one office
Just experimenting to see if people have to enter their house district to make it go through.
There should be a low threshold, but there should be some number of signatures required to show valid intent to actually move toward making a legitimate stab posting a filing fee. A maybe gets it in the pipeline for extended rational discussion.
Open and fair elections is the pinnacle of our republic. Voters are disenfranchised when they don’t have choices on the ballot.
Absolutely! Why should individuals who aren’t with the Republican or Democrat parties and who wish to run for office have to gather petition signatures? Aren’t we eliminating a lot of good people from running for office with this limited ballot access?
It is fair and equal treatment for all Georgians who want to run for office
More candidates, more exposure to different opinions & problem solving & less outside influence.
We don’t need multiple political parties like Europe.
Freedom requires choice. Without choice, there is no freedom. In one half of the federal races held in Georgia, there is only one choice on the ballot. That means we have a one-party system in half the state. And, each election cycle one-half of our fellow residents do not have the opportunity to freely choose their representative. This is wrong and dangerous. A democratic republic must derive its power from the consent of the governed. Without equal access to ballots, Georgia’s congressional delegation cannot represent the will of all Georgians. For these reasons, I support total elimination of the petition requirement for independent and third-party candidates from Georgia’s ballots. I support ballot equality. And, I support SB 112.
The petition requirement is beyond ridiculous. It’s time to move forward and allow people who want to serve but not to be affiliated with the two parties to run!
I am not so concerned with “labels” but with values of God first, family and then country…
Complete open access will only hurt conservatives who vote principle and not agenda. Democrats and progressives will gain an unfair advantage. There should be some easing of restrictions but not much.
There is no real or even semblance of democracy with this two party (really one party) system.
Primary and independent candidates should meet some threshold of demonstrable support to be placed on the ballot such as 100 notarized signatures of voters registered in the jurisdiction in which the person is running.
We need options. These days the two parties are mostly one and the same – corrupt.
Far too many politicians run unopposed simply because of the cost to be on the ballot, leaving candidates who are financed by lobbyists and their loyalty is to their campaign financiers rather than the electorate.
I tend to agree with the bill because for too long it has been difficult for the average independent to run for office. Big money kept them out.
I support SB112 because I believe all citizens should have equal participation in democracy. I believe in ballot equality.
The current laws rig the system and decrease the voice of “We the People”.
Current ballot access laws are a major impediment to true freedom and liberty.
I am the Libertarian candidate for U.S. House GA Dist. 13. My signature requirement is 20,188 signatures. I am the lead plaintiff in a Federal lawsuit, Martin Cowen et al v. Brian Kemp, SoS, seeking to have this requirement declared unconsitutional. 1:17cv04660-LMM pending in the Northern District of GA, ATL division.
That may lead to ballot crowding.
Having some standard to show possible candidate support is not unreasonable.
California once held a special election for Governor with more than 100 candidates on the ballot. Most of them were pranksters just wanting to tell their friends they had once run for Governor. Many voters were turned off by the confusion and serious candidates had trouble being heard.
As a freedom loving country should,
Allow ballot access and let the democratic market place of ideas determine who is the best candidate.
Monopolies on power aren’t good for a healthy republic.
I have run for office as a third party candidate in two elections. It is a challenge but can be done for local elections. The current system is almost impossible at the state level.
Voting should not be restricted to only nominated candidates of major political parties. A reasonable number of signatures should be required to ensure that only valid candidate names are placed on the ballot. That number signatures of registered voters should not exceed 500.
I think running for office is a privilege that should have some effort put into it. Flooding the ballot with insincere candidates could be a problem.
No, even the Russians or big $ funders on either side could run their friends with no knowledge of who the candidates are, not a good idea!
Anyone with $$$ can register unwanted characters.
fairness and simplification.
Each candidate should have the backing of their potential constituency. If not, then they are essentially running for nothing, as very few people would vote for them.
If someone is qualified under the Constitution, ten they should have ballot access.
No person, should have more rules attached to his proposed candidacy because he is running as an independent or third party candidate.
Petitions do not demonstrate qualities of a candidate and is basically busy work. We need a more level the playing field so that interested and qualified individuals will participate. Being part of a “party” does not equate to a vetted candidate as it is now more of a social club to pay dues and favors to in order to be chosen. There are so many other pitfalls to running, including big money only the most motivated will run. This only removes one hurdle. There may be more candidates but that is not a bad thing. Voter confusion- people who vote are not confused-they have to be motivated too. Tired of voting for lessor of two evils.
It is necessary to regulate access to the Ballot. Otherwise, chaos will reign.
I think it will expand the field of talented potential politicians which would serve communities well. Right now it requires too much initial money to
Anyone should be able to run for office without jumping through a bunch of regulations to protect those that already are in office.
Passage of this bill would drastically reduce the effort required to bee placed on the ballot. This would mean we would have many candidates for office making it difficult for voters to properly evaluate each candidate.
There should be some kind of requirement for signatures, but it should be a very low bar, such as 250-500 signatures or something like that. A candidate should have to demonstrate that he or she has SOME level of support, but 1 percent or even 0.25 percent of eligible voters is way too high and out of reach for the average citizen.
It will save Georgia Taxpayers money in thousands of dollars in legal fees.
I agree that the current signature requirements are beyond any reasonable nature and are a way to limit ballot access to the 2 major parties.
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** This survey will remain open and results may be tallied again at a later date. **
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