Editor, Times-Union:
In light of recent news about the section 3 of the 14th amendment and the statement that tens of millions of voters would be disenfranchised if the leading Republican candidate was not allowed on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia and that there must be uniformity of voter choice across the whole United States in the primaries and general election, one needs to accept the fact that there is no constitutional or federal law requirement that a presidential candidate be on the ballot in all 50 states plus D.C. Just ask any third party or independent presidential candidate presidential candidate in they are on the ballot in all 50 states plus D.C. or what it takes to achieve that level of ballot access.
Even presidential write-in candidates for office are not listed in all 50 states as nine of those states prohibit write-in candidates for office of the president. During the 2020 election depending on what state you resided in, voters would have been somewhere between 3 to 21 candidates on the ballot for president. If readers need to verify this just go to National Association of Secretaries of State website and look up state laws regarding presidential ballot access.
Another area of ballot choice that is not uniform across the country is the lack of a none of the above or none of these candidate’s option in presidential elections. The only state that allows this is the state of Nevada which voters in their recent Republican primary selected as the winning choice with 63.2% of participating voters selecting that choice. This option is highly needed across all 50 states and District of Columbia in order to establish true free and fair elections instead of people at the ballot box being forced to choose between he lesser of two, three, or four evils or even the equal of two, three, or four poisons or to coronate single candidates’ races for office with 100% of the vote. Being forced to vote only in the affirmative for candidates that either you disagree with or that are unqualified or even outright dangerous in order for your vote to count instead of being able to cast a NO vote against such candidates violates a clear democratic principle in a constitutional republic - the consent of the governed.
It is time for more standardization of presidential ballot access across the Union with declared write-in candidates being allowed in all 50 states and D.C. Plus allowing more serious third party and independent candidates on the ballot by setting common thresholds for such access. Ultimately though being on the ballot in all 50 states and D.C. is an earned privilege whether you are a candidate of the two-party Duopoly, a third party, non-partisan independent, or a declared citizen write-in candidate.
Alexander Houze
Leesburg