Our election process

As a past candidate for Congress, I got to see the inner workings of our system. I made notes and am publishing a book soon on Amazon.

It is clear to me that our country has been divided up between the Republicans and the Democrats. As a Republican by nature and intent, I don’t lose sleep over it but I do find it disappointing that any third party is almost always doomed to failure because of how state governments and the media do their best to block challengers in elections.

As an illustration, to run for Congress in Georgia, you just give either of the two parties $5,220 or 3% of the then congressional salary during the registration period. That’s all you need to get on the primary ballot. The Republican Party (or Democratic Party) keeps 75%, and passes through 25% to the state.

On the other hand, if you want to run as an Independent, not philosophically in tune with either the Republicans or Democrats, you have to jump over some very, very high hurdles

2006 Georgia Code – 21-2-132

A qualifying petition of a candidate for any other office shall be signed by a number of voters equal to 1 percent of the total number of registered voters eligible to vote in the last election for the filling of the office the candidate is seeking and the signers of such petition shall be registered and eligible to vote in the election at which such candidate seeks to be elected.

My district has about 425,000 registered voters. So at least 4,250 verified voters in the district must sign a nominating petition using strict collection procedures before getting on the ballot. That means collecting about 10,000 signatures. Can you imagine how hard that is to do? You’re not finished there, but you also need to pay the same $5,220 directly to the state.

As far as I know, no one in Georgia has ever met these standards for congressional office. That’s why a Republican or Democrat always wins.