Strange Thinking at the Oklahoma Election Board

Further to the Oklahoma Election Board's decision to kick Bradshaw off the ballot, KFOR reports:

Board member Tom Prince says it would ``create chaos'' if Republicans and Democrats could bypass the primaries and file for office as independents without changing their registration.

The KFOR report also makes reference to a state law that "would have required Bradshaw to be registered as an independent for six months before filing for office."

It seems that the State Legislature (dominated by Democrats and Republican) enacted a new law to further restrict the right to run as an independent and independent of party platforms. Tom Prince's argument that it would be unfair for people registered as a party member to run as an independent and thus "bypass the primaries" puts forth the premise that by doing so independents would be unfairly advantaged. The logic of that premise escapes me. How often have independents been able to overcome the party machines in Oklahoma to win election? Is this really a problem in our state? Last time I checked there were 0 independents in the State Legislature.