RON PAUL 2012 END THE FED VIDEO

Maryland is killing participatory democracy

Libertarian Party

As The Sun’s recent editorial noted, the right to petition almost no longer exists in Maryland (“Technicalities kill another petition,” May 23). The Frederick petition is only the latest in a very long line of petition drives that have failed to qualify for the ballot in recent years.

And this problem affects small political parties as well as ballot questions — currently, all three of Maryland’s small parties have lost their status as recognized political parties and are no longer able to nominate candidates for public office. In particular, the Green Party, which has been getting more and more votes in every Baltimore City election, will be unable to nominate candidates for this year’s election unless its ballot access is restored by July 1.

But fortunately, political parties are more permanent organizations than referendum and initiative groups, and we have decades of experience with ballot access law. So Maryland’s Libertarian and Green Parties have joined together as co-plaintiffs in a lawsuit attempting to reestablish the fundamental right to petition that Maryland voters once enjoyed. The rule in Maryland has always been that whatever our policy differences, we’re all in the same boat on ballot access.