I was disappointed that Shiva Ayyadurai was not included in the recent WGBY Senate debate. I was told by WGBY that the Gazette is part of the consortium that decided this.
Though I don’t agree with all Shiva’s views, I do believe that if he is on the ballot, he should be allowed to debate. The reason given was that he didn’t poll at 15 percent. It’s hard for alternative candidates to poll well when no one gets to hear them. They don’t have the media support or the advertising paid for most times by wealthy corporate donors.
If we were truly a democracy, every candidate running would be heard at these debates. Diehl’s office claimed the reason was because Shiva has some misdeeds in his past. The debates are the time for Diehl to bring evidence forth and point this out to the voting public. If we vote for alternative candidates, we’re called spoilers. I’m so sick of the DNC/RNC duopoly dictating to us who to vote for.
I hope that your paper will support an all inclusive debate next time. This country is long overdue a democratic election process. I also hope you’ll support rank choice voting which will solve the spoiler issue.
Charlotte Burns
Palmer