If you wanted to run for one of the two vacant seats in the House of Representatives, it would not be cheap to get on the ballot.
Louisiana has two congressional special elections set to take place this Saturday, one in the 2nd District and the other in the 5th District, and while each race attracted several candidates, each candidate had to pay in $900 filing fees to make it on the ballot, according to the Louisiana secretary of state’s office. That’s in addition to the requirement that he or she must collect at least 1,000 signatures.
Filing fees vary greatly for candidates across the country. In Arkansas, a Republican candidate must pay $20,000 to run for the United States Senate. Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, running for state representative requires a $2 filing fee. No matter how big or small, all of these filing fees are bad. It should not cost money to run for public office in the U.S.
Some states charge between $500 to $1,000 to run for state representative. That number is higher in Arkansas, at $3,000. What type of people will this attract to run for office? There is nothing wrong with people who have money running for office, but why shut working-class and middle-class people out of the opportunity? If someone has good ideas, he or she deserves a shot to run for office. If people like the candidate’s message, perhaps they will donate to and vote for that candidate. The candidate may bring new and different ideas to the government that others lack.
For example, a member of the working class could be a more dedicated social conservative with different priorities than the business conservative who represents a district. It could be someone who has seen firsthand what substance abuse has done to the community, has experienced how certain regulations harm upward mobility for lower-income residents of that state, or desperately wants to lower his or her state’s abortion rate.
If someone like that doesn’t have a big bank account, does that mean he or she shouldn’t have a chance to run? States such as Iowa, Indiana, and Massachusetts don’t require candidates to pay money to run. That’s a right-leaning swing state, a red state, and a blue state. Scrapping fees will encourage more people to run for office and give voters more candidates to choose from. For those who are unhappy with the state of politics in their state — left, right, or center — this is one change we should all rally behind.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
