By Ben Phillpott, KUT News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-903835.mp3
Dallas, TX – Texas is considered one of the hardest states in the country for a third-party or independent candidate to get onto the ballot. The stringent ballot access laws have been one reason why the Texas Green Party hasn't been on the ballot since 2002. But as KUT's Ben Philpott reports - party activists hope that dry spell ends in 2010.
There were no TV cameras Monday in front of the Texas Secretary of State's office building south of the Capitol. No crowd of cheering supporters. But statewide coordinator Kat Swift with the Green Party of Texas says the dozen or so boxes filled with signed petitions spoke louder than a roaring crowd.
Swift: "And we have with us - 93-thousand petitions roughly of Texas voters who did not vote in the primary - who want to see the Green Party on the ballot."
That's more than double the 44-thousand signatures needed to get a political party on the Texas ballot. And it's been a long and winding road to get here for the Green Party. Swift says ballot efforts suffered under what she says is the false notion that Green Party Presidential candidate Ralph Nader helped President George W. Bush defeat Al Gore in 2000.
Swift: "I was personally verbally assaulted regularly out petitioning. And after a while you kind of just give up."
Beyond that - it costs real money - from 100-thousand to 500-thousand dollars to pay a company to collect the signatures. That's where the Free and Equal Elections Foundation stepped in. Christina Tobin is founder and chair of the non-partisan foundation.
Tobin: "What we do is we gather signatures for candidates nationwide across the political spectrum. From Greens to Libertarians to Constitution to disenfranchised Democrats and Republicans."
And in Texas - the group also helped the Green Party raise the money needed to pay for the signature collection. Richard Winger edits the website Ballot Access News - a clearing house for information from across the country. He says Texas is considered one of the 5 hardest states to get on the ballot - basing his claim on the 2008 Presidential election.
Winger: "In 2008 Ralph Nader got on the ballot in 45 states. Texas was one of only 5 states where it was just too hard. The others were Georgia, North Carolina, Oklahoman and Indiana."
Both Winger and the Free and Equal Elections Foundation are involved in ballot access initiatives in those and other states. Green Party coordinator Kat Swift would welcome a similar law in Texas. But she says the state and nation's general distrust of government did make it easier to collect signatures this year.
Swift: "A good portion of the people are like - well why aren't you on the ballot? What's the deal with that? And you explain the crazy rules here and they're like - all right I'll sign this. I shouldn't have to do this. Y'all should just be on the ballot."
Meanwhile, the Secretary of State's office says it will validate the signatures - and have an official ruling of whether the Green party made the state-wide ballot sometime in the middle of June.