Independent candidates face uphill fight for spot on ballot

Friday, June 29, 2007

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s decision to switch his party designation from Republican to unaffiliated has some speculating that he plans a presidential run. But Maryland, like many states, makes it difficult for independents to run for office.

‘‘Which is ironic because Maryland has a higher percentage of independents than in other states,” said David R. Rocah, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in Baltimore.

The State Board of Elections lists 441,781 unaffiliated registered voters — 14 percent of the 3.1 million registered voters statewide.

To run for office, independents must collect signatures from 1 percent of the registered voters in the area where they want to run for office — either a county, a legislative district or the entire state — in order to be placed on the general election ballot.

That’s down from 3 percent before 1999.

Republicans and Democrats are required to pay a filing fee for the primary election, said Donna J. Duncan, director of the election management division of the State Board of Elections.

The Green, Populist, Constitution and Libertarian parties, which may not go through a primary, may present a slate of candidates to the state election board to get on the ballot.

‘‘I have a lot of respect for individuals who undergo a signature collection campaign,” Duncan said. ‘‘That is a lot of hard, hard work.”

Robin Ficker, who has run for a number of state and local offices, said that experience tells him that statewide independent candidates should begin collecting signatures now.

‘‘You can wait longer if you’ve got the huge war chest that Bloomberg has. He can probably get those signatures in a couple of months,” Ficker said.

For the 2008 election, independents would have to present their signatures by Aug. 4, 2008.

‘‘It’s certainly a barrier created precisely to be a barrier,” Rocah said. ‘‘The ACLU has been involved in challenges to these types of barriers around country. Unfortunately, this type of barrier has been upheld.”

Rocah successfully sued the state in 2004 to open up judicial elections to all voters.

The case followed an initial suit earlier that year filed on behalf of Michael Suessmann, an independent voter from Leonardtown.

‘‘If I wanted to be a Republican or a Democrat I would have joined one of the parties; and I have no problems with not being allowed to elect someone in a partisan position,” Suessmann said. ‘‘But I do have a problem with a nonpartisan position like circuit court judge ... It is unfortunate that old-school politics could influence how judges are elected in Maryland.”

The Court of Appeals ultimately ruled for the state legislature to come up with a system to allow independent and third-party voters to have a chance to vote in judicial elections, which are held during primary elections.

The Court of Appeals ‘‘punted” it back to the General Assembly; so far, legislators have been unable to come up with a solution, said Sen. Robert A. Zirkin (D-Baltimore County) of Owings Mills.

As the system is now, ‘‘independent voters can be effectively disenfranchised from a circuit court election,” he said. ‘‘Everybody acknowledges there is a problem. But the fix is not so simple.”

Although he has taken up the cause of electoral reform for independents in judicial elections, Zirkin said he did not know that independents had different requirements to run for office.

‘‘If someone wants to run for office, it should be the same requirements for getting on the ballot as everyone else,” he said.

The Green Party sued the state about 10 years ago to make it easier for third-party candidates and independents to get on the ballot, but the 1 percent signature requirement remains a hurdle, said Patsy Allen, the state Green Party’s immediate past co-chairwoman.

‘‘The Republicans and Democrats like it that way,” she said.

Del. Jon S. Cardin (D-Baltimore) agreed.

‘‘I don’t have a problem with any of that,” Cardin said of the signature requirement. ‘‘To be honest, the independents have decided they don’t want to belong to a party. ... When an independent can gather adequate support, then they are empowered to run and win.”

But to get that support takes one thing, Ficker said.

‘‘It is difficult unless you have an awful lot of money. That’s what it amounts to,” said Ficker. ‘‘If you’re an independent and don’t have a lot of money, you’re wasting your time, unless you get lucky on the issues or the incumbents get stupid on the issues.”

Even if the deck is stacked against independents, they do have one advantage, Ficker said. Once an independent has collected the signatures, they appear on the general election ballot. Democrats and Republicans can face challengers in the primary election.

In the presidential race, independent candidates are required to collect 10,000 signatures of registered voters in Maryland.

With that, they are automatically entitled to place a presidential and vice presidential candidate on the ballot and to nominate a full slate of candidates for other offices.

‘‘Historically, we have seen several new parties form just prior to a presidential election year and their candidates appearing on the ballot,” Duncan said.

Will that happen in Maryland if Bloomberg decides to run for president? Probably not, said Zach P. Messitte, director of the Center for the Study of Democracy at St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

‘‘In the last half-century, there hasn’t been anyone elected in the state that has declined to affiliate with the two major parties,” he said. ‘‘There are places in the state, like Takoma Park, where you may be able to win or at least be competitive, but at the statewide level it’s very hard.”