By Alex Parker
Yesterday, the state of Oklahoma denied my right to vote.
Yes, I am an American citizen.
Yes, I am over the age of 18.
Yes, I was registered to vote in the 2008 presidential election.
Not that it has any bearing on modern times, but I am even a white male, and supposedly my right to vote would have been upheld since our country’s birth.
The Constitution guarantees this to be an unalienable right, that a person meeting those certain qualifications has the right to elect the president of the United States.
However, when I arrived at my polling station on Nov. 4, I was prohibited from voting. Yes, I received a ballot. But when I went to cast it, it was spat back at me with an error.
You see, Oklahoma doesn’t allow write-in candidates. Oklahoma was the only state in the union where no write-in candidates were allowed.
I came in expecting to vote for a third-party candidate. He was the nominee for the third largest political party in America, and he even has a running mate.
My point is that he was a legitimate candidate. I’m not throwing a fit because I was prevented from expressing my enthusiasm for the Cookie Monster. Or that his platform on centered on lowering grocery prices.
I realize that my candidate wouldn’t have become the 44th president of the United States. But that is completely irrelevant. Any vote for him is a show of support for his policy and political ideals.
The U.S. election system should provide an accurate gauge of support for a candidate and his or her policies. Each vote is important, and a mandate to those who are elected of the American people’s support of certain ideas that otherwise might be overlooked and ignored.
If citizens can’t express their beliefs in this way, then I believe we have a chink in our democratic armor. This flaw in the system takes more power from the hands of the people. It prevents the citizenry’s ability to think in government. We are allowed to choose only one person, and his election is perceived as a total endorsement of his entire ideology, not a simple selection of the best candidate.
Third-party candidates are an important outlet for political commentary and dissension. Inhibiting their support only handcuffs the people.
Alex Parker is a sophomore from Flower Mound, Texas.
November 8th, 2008 at 4:32 am
We also have some of the toughest (maybe THE toughest) ballot access laws in the nation.
Before the 2000 election, I was part of a petition effort to get a third-party candidate on the Oklahoma ballot. I was amazed by how many people not only refused to sign, but expressed disgust that I would even dare to ask them.
I’d explain that the signatures indicated support not for the actual candidate, but for the candidate’s right to run for President, and for Oklahoma voters’ rights to vote for him IF THEY WANTED TO.
People got downright ugly about it. It was really weird.