Candidates must follow set rules

The Indiana Election Commission voted to remove eight federal and state candidates from the November state ballot Aug. 24. Those candidates included Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and the Reform Party's John Hagelin. Other candidates, including third party candidates for governor and U.S. Senate, were also removed.\nTo be included on the ballot, candidates must obtain a number of certified signatures equal to 2 percent of the number of votes cast in the last secretary of state election. This year, that's equal to 30,716 signatures. Each candidate submitted more than enough signatures, but not enough were certified as registered voters.\n It seems finger-pointing is the way many candidates will deal with their removal from the Indiana ballot, and that does not move the process forward. Ken Rogers, co-coordinator of the Indiana Greens Campaign Committee, told the Star Aug. 25 it was "suspicious" that so few signatures were certified. He also complained that the July 17 deadline for signatures ' about four months before the election ' was far too early. Some candidates are reportedly considering lawsuits to have the signatures reexamined, and they are within their rights to do so. But a lawsuit should focus on double-checking the signatures, not on attacking Indiana's ballot regulations or complaining about an early deadline.\nThe Election Commission was just following the rules in its decision to remove the third party candidates from the ballot. It has nothing to do with limiting Hoosiers' options or a conspiracy against third parties and independents; the parties simply didn't collect enough signatures this time, or win enough votes last time, to be on the ballot.