Flowery Branch woman behind bill making it easier for 3rd-party candidates to get on Ga. ballots

FLOWERY BRANCH - The Flowery Branch woman who ran a third-party race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Georgia last year is among those in the state working for passage of legislation that would make it easier for third-party candidates to get on the ballot in Georgia.<br /> <br /> Amanda Swafford was the Libertarian candidate in the race eventually won by Republican David Perdue.<br /> <br /> Currently pending in the General Assembly is House Bill 58, a ballot access bill sponsored by John Pezold (R-133) of Columbus. The measure would significantly reduce the required number of signatures needed for third party and independent candidates in order to be on the ballot. <br /> <br /> Georgia's ballot access laws currently require third-party and independent candidates to obtain signatures from 5% of registered voters in order to run in local races. Those rules haven't changed since 1943 even though the state's population has increased by almost 7 million since that time. Swafford says, consequently, an independent candidate has to obtain thousands of signatures from an electorate unaware of ballot access issues and increasingly skeptical about giving up the kind of private details required by signature petitions. <br /> <br /> HB 58 would still keep hurdles in place for ballot access and require independents to obtain signatures while Republicans and Democrats have no such requirement at all. However, it does lower the signature requirement to just 2% of the actual number of voters who last voted in that particular contest. In most local races, this reduces the signature requirement from thousands to hundreds. <br /> <br /> More details about Swafford's efforts can be found at www.GoFundMe.com/GaBallot .