Guest Opinion: Election law stacks the deck against political independents - Bucks County Courier Times
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick is what he says he is, an Independent, and I will explain why he doesn’t run as one.
The self-described “most independent congressman", Fitzpatrick doesn't refer to himself as a “Republican”. In 2020 his campaign literature bragged “Ranked #1 Most Independent in the Nation”. Fitzpatrick claims the mantle based on the rating he received from the Lugar Center. This think tank created an index that measures how often a congressman or congresswoman introduces bills that succeed in attracting co-sponsors from the other party, and how often they co-sponsor a bill introduced from across the aisle. (1) Fitzpatrick boasts the highest score ever. It’s as if the FBI insider cracked the code and discovered the algorithm for votes needed to win this distinction. Fitzpatrick’s voting record ranks with the most liberal “Republicans” ever in the U.S. Congress. In a debate against Scott Wallace in 2018, Fitzpatrick asked Wallace to not label him as a Republican.
So if Brian Fitzpatrick won’t be labelled a Republican and places the word “Independent” on his campaign literature, why doesn’t he run as an Independent? In purple Bucks County doesn’t running as an Independent make more sense than running for a party whose voters you will not represent? Wouldn’t it be smarter to run as an Independent?
No. Not for Brian Fitzpatrick. Not for anyone. Fitzpatrick couldn’t even get his name on the ballot if he ran as an Independent. You see, the two establishment parties in Pennsylvania have rigged the game so that only establishment party-backed, endorsed candidates can win. Behold the ballot requirements in Pennsylvania.
To get your name on the general election ballot for a congressional seat in Pennsylvania you must qualify by succeeding via one of two disparate paths. The first and easiest path is to win a Republican or Democrat Party primary election with the party’s endorsement. The two establishment parties have a status referred to under state law as “qualified” and candidates that run as a Republican or Democrat have ballot requirements that are different from candidates from lesser parties. With this path, the candidate must simply obtain 1,000 qualified signatures during the primary petition-signing period. In a contested primary the candidate who is “endorsed” by the local establishment party committee wins nearly every time, so it is effectively the establishment party committee bosses that select the general election candidate, and not the voters.
Once the candidate of a “qualified” party wins the primary there are no further petition signature requirements. So, an establishment “qualified” party candidate only needs to get 1,000 signatures to qualify.
The second — and far more difficult — path, is that for people who are not running as endorsed Republicans or Democrats. State law refers to candidates from third parties not as “unqualified”, but as “unaffiliated”, even though they may be affiliated with a third party such as Libertarian. With this path the candidate is subjected to a higher standard of signature requirements. In order to get on the ballot as an “unaffiliated” candidate your signature requirement is “2% of the largest entire vote cast for an elected candidate in the last election within the district” (2). This is a much higher bar to clear.
Let’s take the case of Congressman Fitzpatrick. If Fitzpatrick ran as an Independent, he would have to obtain 4,997 signatures (249,804 votes cast for Fitzpatrick on Nov. 3, 2020 x 2%) to appear on the ballot in 2022. This is a ridiculous number of petition signatures, as you would actually have to get over 6,000 signatures to survive the inevitable legal challenge from the establishment party lawfare squad.
Without the aid of the Bucks County GOP, Fitzpatrick would struggle to get 1,000 signatures, much less 6,000. So herein lies the reason Fitzpatrick registers and masquerades as a Republican. He simply can't compete running as an Independent. The two parties have rigged the system. The same ballot requirement shenanigans apply to state house and senate seats, where “unaffiliated” candidates must get five times the signatures of “qualified” candidates.
Sources
1. https://fitzpatrick.house.gov/2020/5/bucks-county-congressman-brian-fitzpatrick-ranked-most-bipartisan-member
2. https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_requirements_for_political_candidates_in_Pennsylvania
Holland resident Andy Meehan ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in the 1st Congressional District in 2020. He is the president and founder of the RightForBucks organization.
source: https://www.buckscountycouriertimes.com/story/opinion/2021/09/21/election-law-stacks-deck-against-political-independents/5784832001/
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.