A collaboration with Sarah Drew and Eric Dama

OU Tailgate

By Alex Parker

Yesterday, the state of Oklahoma denied my right to vote.

Yes, I am an American citizen.

Yes, I am over the age of 18.

Yes, I was registered to vote in the 2008 Presidential Election.

Not that it has any bearing on modern times, I am even a white male, and supposedly my right to vote would have even been upheld since our country’s birth.

The United States Constitution guarantees this to be an unalienable right, that a person meeting those certain qualifications has the right to elect the President of the United States.

However, when I arrived at my polling station on November 4, I was prohibited from casting my ballot. I received a ballot, but when I went to cast it, it was spat back at me with an error.

You see, Oklahoma doesn’t allow write-in candidates. Oklahoma is the only state in the union where write-in candidates are prohibited.

I came in expecting to vote for a third party candidate. He was the nominee for the third largest political party in America, and he even has a running mate.

My point is that he was a legitimate candidate; I’m not throwing a fit because I was prevented from expressing my enthusiasm for the cookie monster. Or his platform on centered on lowering grocery prices.

I realize that he wouldn’t have become the 44^th President of the United States. But that is completely irrelevant. Any vote for him is a show of support for his policy and political ideals. The American election system should provide an accurate gauge of support for a candidate and his policies. Each vote is important, and a mandate to those who are elected to power of the American people’s support of certain ideas that what otherwise go overlooked and ignored.

If the citizen can’t express their beliefs in this way, then I believe we have a chink in our democratic armor. This flaw in the system takes more power from the hands of the people. It prevents the citizenry’s ability to think in government. We are allowed only to choose only one person, and their election is perceived as a total endorsement of their entire ideology, not a simple selection of the best candidate.

Third party candidates are an important outlet for political commentary and dissention, and inhibiting their support only handcuffs the people.