After staring at this story for 24 hours without anything like an idea, it finally occurred to me that there’s always an alternative to paying a big-time filing fee if you want to run for public office, and since one of the questions that everybody in the MSM echo-chamber is asking is…

How did Alvin Greene come up with a $10,400 filing fee to run in the Democratic primary for the US Senate, it might be more worthwhile to ask…

Why bother?

Why pay $10K when there’s always an exception for indigent candidates? Otherwise an un-Constitutional qualification for office by wealth will have been surreptitiously imposed!

For example, in Bullock v. Carter the Supreme Court ruled that…

It seems appropriate that a primary system designed to give the voters some influence at the nominating stage should spread the cost among all of the voters in an attempt to distribute the influence without regard to wealth. Viewing the myriad governmental functions supported from general revenues, it is difficult to single out any of a higher order than the conduct of elections at all levels to bring

Page 405 U. S. 149

forth those persons desired by their fellow citizens to govern. Without making light of the State’s interest in husbanding its revenues, we fail to see such an element of necessity in the State’s present means of financing primaries as to justify the resulting incursion on the prerogatives of voters.

(3)

Since the State has failed to establish the requisite justification for this filing fee system, we hold that it results in a denial of equal protection of the laws. It must be emphasized that nothing herein is intended to cast doubt on the validity of reasonable candidate filing fees or licensing fees in other contexts. By requiring candidates to shoulder the costs of conducting primary elections through filing fees and by providing no reasonable alternative means of access to the ballot, the State of Texas has erected a system that utilizes the criterion of ability to pay as a condition to being on the ballot, thus excluding some candidates otherwise qualified and denying an undetermined number of voters the opportunity to vote for candidates of their choice These salient features of the Texas system are critical to our determination of constitutional invalidity.

And likewise at all times and in all places where a filing fee which many people could not afford to pay has been imposed.