Oklahoma Independent Media Center

The Oklahoman continues to beat the drum for ballot access reform in the state, and this times gives Ricard Winger, a hardworking activist who produces a national newsletter and website on the issue, a nice plug.

That the state's biggest newspaper, usually no friend of grassroots causes, has taken up this issue, is a welcome surprise to the state's small and struggling third parties.

Foiled again: Access reformers lose another round

IT ain't The Wall Street Journal, but a California newsletter has done for ballot access reform what the Journal has done for lawsuit reform. What Ballot Access News has done is expose Oklahoma as having the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation.

Last month, the state Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of a case challenging these laws. These include provisions that new political parties face extraordinary barriers in getting on the ballot.

While the Journal has repeatedly informed its national readership of Oklahoma's refusal to reform the civil lawsuit system, the newsletter is hammering at the restrictive access laws. A table in the June 1 edition, for example, puts Oklahoma as the worst state on the list of states according to the number of signatures needed to get a presidential contender on the 2008 ballot.

A coalition of Oklahoma third parties and independent voters are conducting a petition drive, calling for the legislature to change what the Oklahoman has noted are "the most restrictive ballot access laws in the nation." If the paper's editorial board or news department would but publish news of this campaign, perhaps enactment of fair laws for ballot access would approach the range of possibility.