A commentary in the Indiana Daily Student makes a good point about this state's deplorable ballot access procedures, making Indiana one of the five most difficult for indpendent and third-party candidates (along with Texas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Georgia):
He or she must collect signatures from 2 percent of the total votes cast in the most recent secretary of state election. This means a candidate is required to obtain about 34,000 signatures (depending on the voter turnout for the secretary of state that year) to appear on the ballot.
This exorbitant number is absurd when compared to other states' laws, such as the 5,000 signatures required by Ohio. The requirement of the 34,000+ signatures is only for an individual election. Perhaps these numbers don't mean much out of context, so consider the number of signatures Republicans and Democrats are required to submit to appear on state or federal ballots: 4,500.
The requirements are so tough that so far only Libertarians seem to be able to manage them. Even Ralph Nader didn't even make it on our ballot in 2008. Why are the Republicans and Democrats so afraid of a little competition? Oops, silly question.
