Independent Voting

The debates are run by the Commission on President-ial Debates ("CPD") headed up by the former national chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties. Despite their clear partisanship, the CPD receives tax deductible contributions from corporations.

The CPD uses unfair criteria to ensure the only candidates invited are the Democratic and Republican nominees. The poll used to determine who can debate is biased. It asks people who they plan to vote for and only includes those candidates who meet the 15% threshold. They ignore polls showing that 55-60% of voters want to see all significant national independents included in the debates.

The 15% requirement is too high. Even the Chairman of the FEC Commission, Michael Toner said recently in a CSPAN interview that the polling requirements are too high and recommends that it be lowered to 5-10%.

The FEC and IRS, both who have been drawn into doz-ens of lawsuits initiated on behalf of independents attempting to address
the bipartisan status
of the CPD, have
turned a blind eye.

When evaluating an independent run for the presidency, potential candidates must ask themselves "will I be included in the debates?" Under the current system, the answer is no. This serves to discourage potential independents from even entering the ring.

Help Stop Corruption in
the Presidential Debates

Leading journalists and opinion makers say America is ready for a mainstream independent presidential candidate. But as long as the presidential debates are off limits to independents, potential candidates will be deterred from running.

The Commission on Presidential Debates's criteria for participation in the presidential debates is overtly and biased against independents.

Independentvoting.org has launched a national letter-writing campaign to urge prominent opinion makers to expose the partisan control of the debates. You can help by pledging to write a letter to one or more of the journalists listed on the right.

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fighting corruption in the presidential debates

What opinion-makers
are saying ...

"I am convinced that this country needs a serious third-party presidential candidacy in 2008...At some point everyone with a civic soul, no matter what their ideological flavor, has yearned for an independent spirit to break through the homogenized, cuisinarted horse manure that is modern American politics..."
Dick Meyer, CBS News

"What to do? I'm hoping for a third party. The situation is ripe for one: America is facing a challenge as big as the cold war -- how we satisfy our long-term energy needs, at reasonable prices, while decreasing our dependence on oil and the bad governments that export it -- and neither major party will offer a solution, because it requires sacrifice today for gain tomorrow."
--Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

"The 'ideological divide' separating conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats leaves a vast untendend center from which a well-financed independent presidential candidate is likely to emerge in 2008 or, if not then, in 2012."
--Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve Chairman.

"I don't see any potential party, or potential candidate on the scene right now who can harness the disaffection of growing portions of the electorate. But a new group or entity that could define the problem correctly -- that sees the big divide not as something between the parties but between America's ruling elite and its people -- would be making long strides in putting third party ideas in play in America again." -- Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal.

"But there undoubtedly is a hunger in the land for consensus and an end to partisanship. A more straightforward answer would come from a credible independent presidential candidacy or an agreement by credentialed figures from the two parties"
--David Broder, Washington Post.

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