John Dashler, candidate for governor, on the difficulty of ballot access in Georgia.
John Dashler is running for Governor of the state of Georgia. At least he is trying, as he told Madison Forum Members at the June 13th luncheon meeting speaking on the subject of ballot access.
John is descended from a signer of the ratification of the Constitution of the United States for the state of Pennsylvania, and is the fourth generation of his family to serve in the military in wars from the Civil War to Vietnam.
He explained that the Founding Fathers risked lives, fortunes, and lives of their families to advance a democratic form of government founded on self determination, self government, and equal representation under the law.
He pointed out that nowhere in the Constitution or in the Federalist Papers do the principle authors make a case that participation in the process will be based on your membership in one of two parties. And yet no greater example of restricted ballot access exists in this country other than in the state of Georgia. According to Richard Winger of the publication, Ballot Access News, says that Georgia has the most restrictive ballot access laws in the country. Other southern states have much easier ballot access rules ranging from no fee to a small fee and/or no signatures to 10,000 signatures. N. Carolina had their ballot access laws challenged. They wee stricken down in court and are presently in the process of re-crafting their ballot access laws.
No independent candidate has ever made the ballot for a state wide office in the state of Georgia. As a Republican or Democrat a candidate must meet a few constitutional requirements, complete a few forms, pay a qualifying fee, and pledge allegiance to one of the two political parties during qualifying week, the last week in April. An independent candidate must collect signatures, on nomination petitions, of registered voters that equal one percent of those that were registered during the prior election of the office sought. In Georgia it was just under 4 million registered in 2002, which means 40,000 signatures on nomination petitions during a 180 day period beginning a couple of days after the Legislature convenes. The qualifying period ends on July 11th. The Secretary of State is not required by law to employ a means test, and there is no time frame for the verification of the signatures, only that it be done as expeditiously as possible. The candidate must be notified at least five days before the general election and has five days to challenge the ruling if he is disqualified.
John is technically campaigning to qualify to become a candidate for governor. As such he has been the target of everything from fear to intimidation and with threats of loss of tax-exempt status for church ministry to loss of state contracts to anyone found to be helping with this campaign. He has been denied access to 22 public meeting places in one county that is heavily Republican. He says his campaign is about the public good. John contends that the party members are afraid of giving up power and afraid of giving voters access to a representative form of government. And the voters he has spoken to all over the state are angry about this lack of access.
John was asked why he wanted to be governor. He says he is a conservative. He sees the governor is the only one who has access to the real facts and to the movers and shakers in and out of government. As a businessman he is more interested in serving the public than in the game of power.
When asked how many names he has on his petitions he said he could not disclose that, but there are 1700 Georgians who have at least two petitions in their hands in 70 counties. Everyone he speaks to takes petitions. The independent movement is growing.
John says it does not take millions of dollars to run this part of the campaign. He contends that if he makes the ballot it will not take millions of dollars to run an effective campaign to win the election. He says he felt going in that if he made it on the ballot he would have a chance to win. Now he feels that if he makes it on the ballot he is very confident that he can win the election. That’s how much anger and sense of hopelessness that exists throughout the state.
John Dashler’s web site is www.dashlerforgov.com.