The Coalition for Free and Open Elections (COFOE) is a nonpartisan organization in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

that aims to promote fair

ballot access Elections in the United States refers to the rules and procedures regulating the conditions under which a candidate, political party, or ballot measure is entitled to appear on voters' ballots. As the nation's election process is decentralized b ...

. COFOE was founded in 1985, when representatives from across the political spectrum met in the New York City law office of former U.S. Attorney General

Ramsey Clark William Ramsey Clark (December 18, 1927 – April 9, 2021) was an American lawyer, activist, and federal government official. A progressive, New Frontier liberal, he occupied senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Pres ...

. Participants in the early days of COFOE included political independents and members of the Citizens Party; the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

; the

Libertarian Party Active parties by country Defunct parties by country Organizations associated with Libertarian parties See also * Liberal parties by country * List of libertarian organizations * Lists of political parties Lists of political part ...

; the

New Alliance Party The New Alliance Party (NAP) was an American political party formed in New York City in 1979. Its immediate precursor was an umbrella organization known as the Labor Community Alliance for Change, whose member groups included the Coalition of G ...

; the Prohibition Party; and the

Socialist Party USA The Socialist Party USA, officially the Socialist Party of the United States of America,"The article of this organization shall be the Socialist Party of the United States of America, hereinafter called 'the Party'". Art. I of th"Constitution o ...

. One of the early chairs of COFOE was Socialist

David McReynolds David Ernest McReynolds (October 25, 1929 – August 17, 2018) was an American politician and social activist who was a prominent democratic socialist and pacifist activist. He described himself as "a peace movement bureaucrat" during his 40-yea ...

, who was succeeded by Ann Rosenhaft and then by

Si Gerson Simon W. Gerson (January 23, 1909 – December 26, 2004) was a top leader of the Communist Party USA. In particular, he was considered its leading expert on campaigns and election. He was perhaps most famous for being the party's appointee to fi ...

of the Communist Party. It has largely been due to the steadfast work of

Richard Winger Richard Lee Winger (born August 27, 1943) is an American, political activist and analyst. He is the publisher and editor of ''Ballot Access News''. He sits on the editorial board of the ''Election Law Journal''. Winger publishes analysis, statisti ...

, editor and publisher of '' Ballot Access News'', that COFOE has survived, and grown, as an organization. COFOE has filed amicus briefs in numerous court cases relating to ballot access. As of August 2021, members of COFOE include the

American Solidarity Party The American Solidarity Party (ASP) is a Christian-democratic political party in the United States. It was founded in 2011 and officially incorporated in 2016. The party has a Solidarity National Committee (SNC) and has numerous active state ...

; the Constitution Party;

FairVote FairVote, formerly the Center for Voting and Democracy, is a 501(c)(3) organization that advocates electoral reform in the United States. Founded in 1992 as Citizens for Proportional Representation to support the implementation of proportional r ...

; the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

; Independent Voting; the Libertarian Party; the Prohibition Party; the Reform Party, and the Socialist Party USA.

Related organizations

In the late 1990s a national ballot access organization with a focus similar to that of COFOE held several meetings in the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, area, attended by members of the Green Party, Libertarian Party,

Natural Law Party The Natural Law Party (NLP) is a transnational party founded in 1992 on "the principles of Transcendental Meditation", the laws of nature, and their application to all levels of government. At its peak, it was active in up to 74 countries; it con ...

, Reform Party, Socialist Party USA, various independents, and others. This new national ballot access coalition discussed the possibility of formally constituting a tax-exempt civic organization for purposes of ballot access litigation and education; at one point some participants in this group considered borrowing the COFOE name.

External links

* {{activism-stub Elections in the United States Election and voting-related organizations based in the United States