The Charleston Gazette has published CCD General Council Oliver Hall’s op-ed supporting the equal right of all qualified candidates to run for public office, and defending minor party and independent candidates against the “spoiler” charge. #oped

How far are we from “a Soviet-style system where the competition is pruned such that the election merely ratifies the controlling party’s choice,” CCD director Theresa Amato asks in an op-ed for CNN. Ballot access restrictions preventing Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum from appearing on Virginia’s Republican primary election ballot are just the latest evidence of an “archaic electoral process that artificially restricts our ballot choices,” Amato writes. #oped