Representatives of Oklahomans for Ballot Access Reform, the Green Party of Oklahoma, the Libertarian Party of Oklahoma and the newly-formed Pirate Party of Oklahoma, also said they will attend the event.

“Oklahoma presidential ballot access laws are among the strictest in the country,” said Christina Tobin, founder and chair of The Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “Oklahoma even forbids write-in votes. When I heard Oklahoma was a red state, I didn’t think it referred to the Soviet Union.”

“Oklahoma ballot access for president is so bad, no Oklahoma voter has been permitted to vote for anyone for President in the last 9 years except for the nominees of the two major parties,” said Richard Winger, publisher of Ballot Access News. “Oklahoma is the only state in which no one has ever been allowed to vote for Nader.”

“Oklahoma ballot access laws relating to independent presidential candidates are supremely irrational, because independent candidates for office other than president are very easy in Oklahoma, and the state has no problem with crowded general election ballots for any partisan office,” Winger said. “Independent candidates don’t need any signatures at all, unless they are running for President, in which case they need 43,880 valid signatures (for 2012).”

“This event and others like it provide a forum for like-minded voters to come together in a unified front to challenge the political status quo, which has long left many sooner state residents without the representation they desire and deserve,” Tobin said. “Free & Equal encourages Oklahoma to join the majority of states, which have adopted revenue-positive filing fees in lieu of revenue-negative signature requirements.”

Free and Equal Public Relations Director Kaylee Burton also will be on hand at the event to meet with voters who want to put a stop to more of the same duopoly that has long governed the state, and will interview Nader following the event, regarding ballot access, drug prohibition, the nationwide movement to legalize marijuana and war in general.

“Voter choice is long overdue in Oklahoma,” Burton said. “I grew up here … went to college here … and I’ll never forget the first time I heard about ballot access laws. It was like a slap upside the head to realize I had been conditioned to think Oklahoma elections were fair, only to find out that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s absurd the level of control Democrats and Republicans hold in this state and now that I’ve learned the truth, I want to help others to pull the wool back from their eyes.”

Free and Equal is organizing an all-inclusive back to back debate for governor and U.S. Senate candidates. All ballot-qualified candidates will be invited. Further details will be announced in the near future.

Wednesday’s event is free and open to the public.

In addition, a number of high-profile gubernatorial debates, which exclude all candidates except Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican rival Meg Whitman, have been scheduled throughout California. This non-inclusive debate series will kick off September 28 with a televised debate hosted at the University of California, Davis, and co-sponsored by the Sacramento Bee, to be followed by an October 2 debate at California State University, Fresno, and a Ronn Owens radio debate October 5 on KGO-810 AM. Tom Brokaw has agreed to moderate the final debate, October 12, sponsored and hosted by Dominican University of California.

“Non-inclusive debates are not a new phenomenon,” said Christina Tobin, founder and chair of The Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “However, the true purpose of candidate debates should be to provide a forum for all qualified candidates to discuss the issues and provide voters with the knowledge they need to make informed decisions at the polls.”

Brown has challenged Whitman to a number of joint town hall appearances in addition to the already confirmed debate schedule.

“Every one of these debates is hosted by a credible organization, guaranteeing a fair and open forum,” Brown said in a statement, reported on The Sacramento Bee’s Capital Alert blog. “There is no reason not to participate, no reason not to say what we really mean, and show the voters who we are.”

“Brown’s guarantee of a fair and open forum is severely flawed,” Tobin said. “The only way to make these debates truly fair and open is to include all qualified candidates. They deserve the opportunity to participate, say what they really mean and show the voters who they are as well. If Brown wants to promote fairness, he should start playing fair, himself.”

“Non-inclusive debates do not provide voters with the answers they need to make informed decisions at the polls,” Tobin said. “These faux debates only work with insider candidates and partisan media, providing little if any substantial information.”

Gubernatorial candidates, Chelene Nightingale of the Constitution Party and Laura Wells of the Green Party, along with California Peace & Freedom Party State Chair C.T. Weber, Libertarian National Chair Mark Hinkle, Green Party National Co-Chair Michael Feinstein and Constitution Party National Chair Jim Clymer, have said they agree with Free and Equal’s opposition of all non-inclusive candidate debates.

“All Free and Equal debates follow a strict policy of inviting every eligible candidate,” Tobin said. “Free and Equal is calling on other debate organizers to follow our lead by doing what is right for the people, not favoring the political insiders and biased media.”

“Free & Equal will continue to shine light on this unfair and corrupt practice in addition to hosting truly open and all-inclusive debates across the country,” Tobin said. “Free and Equal is teaming up with student organizations at universities nationwide to produce the all-inclusive debates the public is crying for. The students are our next generation of leaders, and Free and Equal is thrilled to be part of their introduction to civic responsibility, in hopes of providing a much more just future for Americans across the board.”

With university and student support, Free and Equal will produce a string of all-inclusive, back-to-back gubernatorial and U.S. senatorial candidate debates beginning with debates in California, Illinois and Oklahoma, with more states signing on rapidly.

“Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapters are stepping up to the plate in several states and we are anticipating support from other groups such as Students for Liberty, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity and student governments, among others, to join in and help,” Tobin said.

All Free and Equal debates will be streamed live on freeandequal.org and will cover a number of important issues including economics, war, drugs, election reform and proportional representation in addition to many others.

Principles Over Parties, a pro-liberty, antiwar and free speech rally will take place Saturday, September 4, 2 – 4 p.m. at San Francisco Civic Center and will include prominent speakers including Congressman Ron Paul, candidate for U.S. House John Dennis and former San Francisco supervisor Matt Gonzalez, all of whom have stated they support all-inclusive debates.

Free & Equal has launched a petition to open all debates to include all qualified candidates and would appreciate your support of our mission by signing the petition and spreading the word.

Attending were: state Sen. Mike Folmer; Bonita Hoke of the League of Women Voters; David Jahn of the Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition; Gil Freedman of Common Cause Pennsylvania; VotePA Executive Director Mark Kuznik; Democracy Rising PA President Tim Potts; Libertarian Party of Pa. Chair Mik Robertson; Constitution Party National Chair Jim Clymer; Green Party of Pa. representative Bob Small; as well as Libertarian Party nominees for governor, Marakay Rogers, and lieutenant governor, Kat Vallelay, both of whom were removed from the ballot.

The press conference is available online on the Pennslyvania Cable News website. Look for Campaign 2010 in the menu and scroll down to “Ballot Access”.

Ralph Nader was removed from the 2004 Pa. ballot after a legal challenge to his petitions. That year, a step was taken which was unprecedented in any state. Nader was ordered to pay the cost of the challenge which removed him from the ballot, adding up to tens of thousands of dollars. Since then, this tactic has routinely been used to remove third party and independent candidates from the ballot.

According to Rogers, on the second day of her attempt to validate her signatures against the state voter registration database, Republican Party lawyers approached her with a grim message. If she did not stop trying to prove her signatures valid by later that day, they would seek to impose thousands of dollars in fines, should she ultimately lose the challenge. By this means, she and every other third party or independent candidate for statewide office was successfully intimidated into forfeiting their legal right to due process.

“The imposition of exorbitant fees for candidates who are unsuccessful in the defense against a challenge adds yet another layer of deterrence to participation in the electoral process,” Robertson said.

Current Pennsylvania law “falls short of the free and equal elections provisions of our state constitution,” Jahn said. “These people will stop at nothing to remove good, decent people from the primary or general elections.”

This year, the Democratic and Republican Parties were required by law to collect only 2,500 signatures while third party candidates for the same office needed 20,000 signatures, Vallelay said. Even the 20,000 figure is unusually low — in 2006 the requirement for the same offices was 67,000.

Current Pennsylvania law uses a “complex mathematical formula” that produces widely varying and unfair requirements for alternative candidates, Sen. Folmer said.

Folmer is the primary sponsor of state Senate Bill 252, the Voters Choice Act, which would have Pennsylvania use the same standard as Delaware, a simple formula based on the number of registered voters in the state. According to Folmer, the issue of ballot access “isn’t rocket science” and reform is needed to “protect the constitutional rights of citizens.”

The League of Women Voters believes the requirements for all candidates should be equal, and it was unfair to deny access to the ballot to candidates “who lack the resources to defend their candidacy,” Hoke said. The League is concerned about reduced voter participation, which Hoke said can be traced to “a lack of meaningful choices on the ballot.”

On top of such disparities, signatures can be invalidated for trivial reasons such as a voter writing “Jeff” instead of “Jefferey” or failing to put the year when dating their signature. “It’s a truly sad state of affairs when so many of our soldiers have died in recent actions that have brought ballot choices to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan while so much effort is put into limiting the choices that voters have in Pennsylvania,” Robertson said when describing the overall situation.

“These acts of intimidation are unacceptable at best,” said Christina Tobin, founder and chair of The Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “Pennsylvania’s ballot access laws are in serious need of reform and Free and Equal will continue to fight for the rights of voters in Pennsylvania and nationwide to have the choices they want to see on their ballots.”

Caldwell removed himself as a plaintiff, August 25, one day before CBS affiliate WLKY in Louisville reported news of Caldwell’s recent arrest. Lawrence dropped the lawsuits against Martin and Hansen, August 27, insuring that both candidates will be on the November ballot. The defendant’s court hearings were scheduled for Monday, August 30, but have been canceled in light of these events.

Immediately after being notified about the lawsuits, a public campaign from several fronts pushed this issue into the media. Libertarian candidate Martin issued a statement as did the Libertarian Party of Kentucky. Martin’s campaign then asked Lally’s campaign to publicly call for his Republican associates to drop the lawsuit. The Free and Equal Elections Foundation added to the efforts with a media release and brought this to the attention of ballot access activists nationwide.

Journalist Sheldon S. Shafer for the courier-journal in Louisville reported on the lawsuit along with WHAS-ABC Channel 11. Louisville’s NPR news station, WFLP 89.3, ran a story and Louisville News and Politics, the Kentucky Freedom Digest, and Page One Kentucky continued their coverage.

The Libertarian Party of Kentucky has used these events as a call to action to get involved and help protect democracy in their state. This statement is from their website: “One supporter who had remained Republican to date tonight committed on Facebook to switch his registration to Libertarian to show his disgust. He’ll be following this action by sending a photocopied version of his voter card (with SSN redacted) to his local GOP chair, the Jefferson County (Louisville) GOP chair, and the GOP state chairman, along with a letter explaining his disgust with these dirty political antics as the reason for his switch.”

“This is the type of quick action and media attention that should be given to an issue as important as democratic elections,” said Christina Tobin, Chair and founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “Republicans are running scared in this election cycle as evidenced by their attacks on equal access to the ballots by alternative candidates here in Kentucky, and in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York. Democrats use the same tactics as well. Free and Equal’s radio show is one avenue we are using to stop this bad political behavior, and we are glad to have Independent candidate Michael Hansen join us this week.”

In addition to Hansen, Ken Moellman, Libertarian Party of Kentucky Chair, will be a guest on the next Free and Equal radio show on Tuesday, August 31 from 10-11pm ET to talk about the lawsuit situation and Kentucky elections. Christi Gillespie, State Coordinator of Free & Equal Kentucky will join the show as well to talk about upcoming events. Ed Martin has also been invited to join us on the show, should his busy campaign schedules permit it. The Free and Equal radio show can be listened to live at BlogTalkRadio or at the Free and Equal website where it is also available for later enjoyment.

“The voters deserve to have as many choices as we can get on Election Day,” said Christi Gillespie. “It’s funny how the Republicans are all in favor of free market solutions until you start talking about the ballot box. I encourage voters to analyze all candidates including write-ins, regardless of their party affiliation, and vote for the one that truly reflects your values and beliefs. It is time we began voting for the best candidate, and not just voting for the lesser of two evils.”

Gillespie is helping to organize the Free and Equal Candidate Forum Saturday, September 25th from 2 – 6 p.m. at the Kentucky State Capitol steps. All candidates are invited to share their message with voters at this event. More details will be released about this all-inclusive event as it develops.

“I’m glad Martin and Hansen are now assured of their rightful place on the ballot,” Tobin said. “These tactics are not only designed to remove legitimate competition from the ballots, they are also designed to drain the resources of their competition, create uncertainty and confusion in the voting public as to who will be on the ballot, and distract both their competitors’ campaigns and the media from the important issues confronting the electorate. When people like Lawrence use these tactics it should be exposed and remembered.”

“Free and Equal is here to make sure more voters are educated about their election system and who is trying to game it for their own advantage,” Tobin said. “Another typical practice that only serves to hurt the voters is when they keep candidates off the stage of debates, forums and public speaking engagements. Recent rallies in Kentucky have been manipulated to exclude candidates in an attempt to keep their messages from being heard by voters. With our first Free and Equal Candidate Forum in Kentucky coming up in September we intend to start restoring the principles of fair elections that every voter deserves.”

The lawsuit was filed by Cordell Lawrence as Vice Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party and David Caldwell. Caldwell has since removed himself as a plaintiff. A hearing for Ed Martin will take place at the Jefferson Circuit Court Division 5, located at 700 W. Jefferson St. in Louisville, Ky., on August 30th at 10:45am, with Michael Hansen’s hearing at 1:00pm.

In a response to the lawsuit, Libertarian candidate Ed Martin pointed out the vague nature of the Republican’s court filing. “At this point, no cause of action or claim is stated in the complaint,” Martin said. “I’m at a loss right now as to what their claim is.”

Ken Moellman, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Kentucky also responded to the attack on his party’s candidate. “Apparently, Republicans are so insecure about their lack of a substantive platform that they are trying to steal half of the options the voters have.”

Journalist Sheldon S. Shafer for the courier-journal in Louisville reported on the lawsuit along with WHAS-ABC Channel 11.

“Michael Hansen turned in his nominating papers in March and the Jefferson County Republicans are just now getting around to filing the lawsuit,” said Christina Tobin, Chair and founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “That is either complete incompetence or cruel calculation, neither of which should be tolerated in a respectable democracy. Cordell Lawrence should resign his position with the Jefferson County Republican Party immediately for this abuse against free and equal elections that is wasting court time and taxpayer dollars.”

“This is exactly what Barack Obama and his ‘Chicago Way’ Democrats do to remove political competition from the ballot, and now Louisville Republicans are acting just like them,” Tobin said. “If Republican Todd Lally is in any way connected to these attempts to take choices away from Kentucky voters, he is unfit to hold an office with power and should drop out of the race right now. This type of anti-democratic behavior is not acceptable in Kentucky or anywhere in the US.”

Free and Equal Elections Foundation has started organizing at the grassroots in Kentucky to promote fair elections that will give all Kentucky voters the ballot choices they deserve. Free and Equal will sponsor a Freedom Rally and Candidate Forum Saturday, September 25th from 2-6 p.m. at the Kentucky State Capitol steps.

Ken Moellman will be a guest on the next Free and Equal radio show on Tuesday, August 31 from 10-11pm ET to talk about this situation. Candidates Ed Martin and Michael Hansen have also been invited as guests if their busy campaign schedules permit it. The Free and Equal radio show can be listened to live at BlogTalkRadio or at the Free and Equal website where it is also available for later enjoyment.

Kentucky Republicans are attempting to remove two candidates from the November ballot for the 3rd Congressional District with a lawsuit filed on August 20, 2010. Ed Martin, candidate for the Libertarian Party, and Michael D. Hansen, independent candidate, were notified of the lawsuit this week.

Michael Hansen will a guest along with Ken Moellman, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Kentucky to talk about this situation and Kentucky politics. Christi Gillespie, State Coordinator of Free & Equal Kentucky will join the show also to discuss the upcoming Candidate Forum sponsored by Free and Equal. Ed Martin has also been invited as guests if his busy campaign schedule permits it.

Democracy is under attack. Revolution at the ballot box must be a possibility. Tune in and do your part. Call in at 347-633-9636 to get your two bits in.

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All qualified candidates will be invited to participate in the debate. This includes candidates on the ballot and any write-in candidates that turned in signatures equivalent to the established party requirement but were removed from the ballot. Free and Equal supports a $500 flat filing fee in lieu of signatures as a ballot access requirement. Two-thirds of our US states use a filing fee system without experiencing problems in their elections.

“Free and Equal is committed to giving all qualified candidates an equal voice in the debate,” said Christina Tobin, CEO and founder of Free and Equal, who will moderate the debate. “Illinois voters deserve a diversity of choices on the ballot.”

Free and Equal’s third Illinois gubernatorial debate, that took place in July, was covered by dozens of media outlets, including public radio stations WBEZ in Chicago, WSIU in Carbondale, and WILL in Champaign, along with the Chicago Sun-Times, Southtown Star, Huffington Post, Dekalb Daily-Chronicle, Chicagoist and the Chicago Tribune Media Group’s ChicagoNow. A live feed of the U.S. Senatorial debate will be available at freeandequal.org.

“The response to the last debate, from people in attendance and from those watching at home on their computers, has been tremendous,” Tobin said. “There is a hunger out there for more discussion and debate about the substantive issues that we all face. Free and Equal is looking to provide Illinois voters with more opportunities to learn about their political choices.”

Free and Equal will continue to organize all-inclusive candidate debates in Illinois and other states throughout this election season. September will kick-off a string of University hosted, student group sponsored and Free and Equal organized candidate debates across California. Additional information regarding California debates will be released as it becomes available.

“A petition was filed for a ‘Tea Party’ but the nominee is a former Democratic Party state committee member with no ties to the Tea Party movement,” said Christina Tobin, president and founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “There is no evidence of any active campaign other than the petition filed. This is a transparent attempt to confuse voters.”

Compared to New York’s arcane challenge period, gathering 15,000 signatures was the easy part. With the challenge period upon us, Free & Equal asked each campaign how they felt about the inevitable challenges.

Jimmy McMillan is the hard working and charismatic founder of the Rent Is Too Damn High Party (spelled “Rent Is 2 Damn High” in order to fit on the ballot), a single issue party dedicated to reducing the cost of living in New York City. Having submitted only a little over 15,000 signatures, McMillan is vulnerable to a challenge. However, McMillan is not the type to give up easily. He successfully sued the Board of Elections in order to use the word “Damn” in the name of his party.

Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins said he is confident he can survive a challenge with 27,500 signatures. “We have successfully petitioned our five statewide candidates on the ballot by the independent nominating petition process,” Hawkins said. “That doesn’t mean ballot access in New York is fair. The five recognized parties did not have to petition to place the statewide candidates they designated at their conventions on the ballot. While disparities in ballot access were not a problem for our statewide slate, many of our candidates for U.S. Congress and state Senate and Assembly had difficulty.”

Former Ron Paul campaign lawyer and Libertarian Party candidate Warren Redlich also said he is confident, having submitted nearly 34,000 signatures. “My mother was out there getting signatures, my father-in-law too. Hundreds of people helped … and we had a dedicated team who spent the past week putting it all together,” Redlich said of the unprecedented volunteer effort. “Now that we’re on the ballot, we can work on delivering the message to the voters.”

Freedom Party candidate Charles Barron said he is upset with the Democratic Party’s hypocrisy on diversity, including its nomination of an all-white statewide slate this year. He could not be reached for comment as of this writing, but had this to say recently, when asked about petition challenges: “Bring it. We dare them to challenge us.” Regarding debates, he said: “Let the debates begin … if they try to say we’re some fringe organization and we can’t be in the debates, we’re going to break the door down!”

It looks like New York will have an exciting gubernatorial campaign.

Richard Winger, plaintiff in the lawsuit against SB 6, and Christina Tobin, CEO and founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation and StopTopTwo.org creator, gave a press conference at the California State Capitol, Tuesday, August 17, where they called for Maldonado to help fix the problems in SB 6 that resulted in the lawsuit. While that was happening, Maldonado and the two groups were attempting to insert themselves into the lawsuit against SB 6. Torey Van Oot, from the Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Alert blog, announced the SB 6 press conference, and has an article on Maldonado’s attempted interference.

“Maldonado should be fixing the problems in SB 6, not trying to take over as a defendant for the other side,” Tobin said. “He might need a different kind of intervention if he actually thinks the write-in procedures of SB 6 are the least bit acceptable, not to mention for his behavior holding the state budget hostage in exchange for passing this unrelated legislation. They need to stop trying to cover up the blatant problems SB 6 creates. It was sloppy legislation passed in the wee hours of the morning without public input or expert opinion. Maldonado and his cohorts are being dishonest in refusing to admit that.”

“SB 6 creates a ballot with a specific space for voters to write-in a candidate, but it bans those votes from being counted,” Tobin said. “That little detail wasn’t on the ballot June 8th. Nor was there anything on the ballot mentioning that some candidates will be able to identify which political party they prefer, while other candidates cannot. When Abel or his friends start talking about those two issues we might start to believe they are sincere about reforming California politics.”

Maldonado’s statement, put out by NewsBlaze, said, “The measure overwhelmingly passed and is now being challenged by political insiders who strive to maintain a dysfunctional status quo.”

“With lies like this, Maldonado needs an intervention,” Tobin said. “He needs to stop drinking the typical politician kool-aid with his empty soundbite rhetoric, fake reforms, and meddling in lawsuits to cover up the problems he created. Proposition 14, getting 53.7% of the primary vote with only a 33% turnout is hardly overwhelming. The plaintiffs and Free and Equal are not rich or connected insiders, unlike Governor Schwarzenegger’s $5 million Yes on Prop 14 campaign. CAIVN and their cheerleader, Steve Peace, have their own special agenda as well.”

“Free and Equal strives for consideration of real election reforms such as proportional representation, which is used in 73 countries,” Tobin said. “Gautam Dutta, legal counsel for the lawsuit against SB 6, and Steve Chessin, plaintiff in the lawsuit just discussed proportional representation in depth on our radio show. If that doesn’t prove we’re political outsiders looking to truly break the dysfunctional status quo I don’t know what will.”

“Not one country uses a Top Two election system similar to what SB 6 and Proposition 14 creates,” Tobin said. “Washington’s Top Two system hasn’t done anything but further entrench the status quo there. Maldonado, CAIVN, and Schwarzenegger’s rich and connected Yes on Prop 14 campaign need to stop covering up the problems with SB 6 and Top Two election systems and look at real election reforms.”

StopTopTwo.org, through Free and Equal, has issued several statements regarding the lawsuit against SB 6 recently: StopTopTwo.org’s Christina Tobin Tells Governor Schwarzenegger to Chill Out, on July 30; Richard Winger and Christina Tobin to Host Sacramento Press Conference on Election Reforms, on August 13; and SB6 Lawsuit Discussed at Tuesday Press Conference at California State Capitol, on August 16.

Update: The date and location of the first U.S. Senatorial candidate debate organized by Free and Equal Elections Foundation will be rescheduled due to unforeseen conflicts with back-to-school activities at Northern Illinois University at DeKalb. Free and Equal is working with the University and sponsor, Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, to reschedule the event as soon as possible. Tentative dates include: August 24, 25, 26 or September 8.

Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity officials also are accepting additional co-sponsoring organizations to speed along the rescheduling process. Free and Equal previously has organized three gubernatorial debates in Illinois, the most recent of which was sponsored in part by Kappa Alpha Psi at Chicago State University.

“On behalf of Free and Equal, I would like to apologize to the invited candidates, the press and attendees for any confusion or inconvenience this delay has caused,” said Christina Tobin, CEO and founder of Free and Equal Elections Foundation. “Free and Equal hopes to release the new date, time and location for the debate within the next week.”

All candidates who filed enough signatures to appear on the ballot will be invited to participate in the debate, including: Alexi Giannoulias, Democrat; Mark Kirk, Republican; LeAlan Jones, Green; Will Boyd, Independent; Corey Dabney, Independent; Mike Labno, Libertarian; Carl Officer, Practical; and Randy Stufflebeam, Constitution.

“Free and Equal is committed to giving all qualified candidates an equal voice in the debate,” Tobin said. “Illinois voters deserve a diversity of choices on the ballot. This all-partisan debate is meant to show the voters the kinds of choices they could and should have in November.”

Charles Thomas at Chicago’s local ABC affiliate and Sam Hudzik at Chicago Public Radio WBEZ 91.5 reported this week about the struggles some of these candidates still face getting on the ballot.

Free and Equal’s third Illinois gubernatorial debate, that took place in July, was covered by dozens of media outlets, including public radio stations WBEZ in Chicago, WSIU in Carbondale, and WILL in Champaign, along with the Chicago Sun-Times, Southtown Star, Huffington Post, Dekalb Daily-Chronicle, Chicagoist and the Chicago Tribune Media Group’s ChicagoNow. A live stream of the U.S. Senatorial debate will be available at freeandequal.org.

“The response to the last debate, from people in attendance and from those watching at home on their computers, has been tremendous,” Tobin said. “There is a hunger out there for more discussion and debate about the substantive issues that we all face. Free and Equal is looking to provide Illinois voters with more opportunities to learn about their political choices.”

Free and Equal will continue to organize all-inclusive candidate debates in Illinois and other states throughout this election season. September will kick-off a string of University hosted, student group sponsored and Free and Equal organized candidate debates across California. Additional information regarding California debates will be released as it becomes available.