​Full and fair access to the electoral process is a right central to democracy  

Coalition for Free and Open Elections

cofoe

Coalition for Free and Open Elections Statement of Principles

​Full and fair access to the electoral process is a right central to democracy.

This right is protected by the U.S. Constitution in the First Amendment which guarantees,

among other rights, the freedom to express political views through the electoral process.

This right includes the freedom to register and vote, to form political parties, to run for

political office at all levels, to have unhindered access to the ballot and to the means of reaching the public, and to share equally in the benefits given by the state and federal governments to the two major parties and their candidates.

This right is not enjoyed today by voters who seek alternative political choices, nor by independent candidates and alternative political parties. Monopoly of the political process by the two major parties has, in fact, denied the voters an effective range of political choice. A maze of highly technical and restrictive laws has been enacted to bar the full exercise of the constitutional right to participate in the political process.

We join with all democratic-minded citizens and groups in the struggle to assert the freedom to participate in the electoral process and to overcome, at every level, the barriers to complete ballot freedom.