by Clifford F. Thies

From LR yesterday, "NH GOP Chairman in hot water for signing Libertarian Party petition":

Tea Partyer Jack Kimball is now in trouble with the GOP State Executive Committee for having signed a ballot access petition for the GOP's sometimes partner party. He merely signed to allow them to have ballot status.

It is reasonable for political parties to require that their officers be loyal to the party. When I was a member of the Libertarian Party National Committee, I was myself subject to certain such conditions. But, we should be careful as to what party loyalty means.

On the issue of ballot access, or signing a petition to put a candidate's name on the ballot, the signature does not constitute an endorsement of the candidate or a commitment to vote for the candidate, only that you think the candidate's name should be on the ballot.

Many people support ballot access out of fairness, believing that all law-abiding Americans should have the same access to the ballot, so long as the resulting ballot is not overly confusing to the voter. Others support ballot access because they think more competition among candidates will result in a better winning candidate. There are yet other reasons.

I have always thought very well of people from other parties who sign ballot access petitions, or who support liberalizing ballot access laws in the state legislatures of our country, as they show themselves to be fair-minded people who believe in our democratic process.