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ORAL ARGUMENT NOT YET SCHEDULED

No. 19-5117-cv

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD, et al.,

Plaintiffs-Appellants,

vs.

FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION,

Defendant-Appellee.

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

AMICUS CURIAE BRIEF OF FAIRVOTE AND THE COALITION FOR 

FREE AND OPEN ELECTIONS IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFFSAPPELLANTS AND IN SUPPORT OF REVERSAL

WILLIAM P. TEDARDS, JR.*

1101 30th Street, NW, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 797-9135

BT@tedards.net 

(DC 143636)

Counsel for FAIRVOTE and Coalition

for Free and Open Elections

ANDREW S. PENROSE

6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 240

Takoma Park, MD 20912

(301) 270-4616

dpenrose@fairvote.org 

(AZ 029751)

Counsel for FAIRVOTE

*

Counsel of Record

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CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

Amicus Curiae is a non-profit organization. It has no parent corporation and 

does not issue stock.

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CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS UNDER REVIEW, AND 

RELATED CASES

A. Parties and Amici

Pursuant to Circuit Rule 28(a)(1)(A), Amicus Curiae certify that the parties 

and amici curiae in the case are as follows: Plaintiffs-Appellants Level the Playing 

Field, Dr. Peter Ackerman, Green Party of the United States, Libertarian National 

Committee, Inc.; Defendant-Appellee is the Federal Elections Commission; and 

Amici FairVote, Coalition for Free and Open Elections, Independent Voter Project, 

Norman R. Augustine, Dennis C. Blair, Scott Blackmun, Mary McInnis Boise, W. 

Bowman Cutter, James J. Fishman, Carla A. Hills, Daniel L. Kurtz, Vali R. Nasr, 

Nancy E. Roman, James Stavridis, Joseph Robert Kerry, Joseph I. Lieberman, 

Hon. Clarine N. Riddle, Hon. David M. Walker, Hon. Christine Todd Whitman, 

and the Commission on Presidential Debates.

B. Rulings Under Review

The rulings under review, each entered by Hon. Tanya S. Chutkan, are (1) 

the Order, dated March 31, 2019 (Docket No. 111), denying Appellants’ motion 

for summary judgment, denying Appellants’ motion to supplement the record, 

granting the FEC’s motion for summary judgment, and granting in part and 

denying in part the FEC’s motion to strike; and (2) the Memorandum Opinion, 

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dated March 31, 2019 (Docket No. 110) addressing these motions, which appears 

at 381 F. Supp. 3d 78.

C. No Related Cases

This case has not previously been before this Court or any other court except

for the district court. Counsel for Amicus is not aware of any related cases within 

the meaning of Circuit Rule 28(a)(1)(C).

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT 2

CERTIFICATE AS TO PARTIES, RULINGS UNDER REVIEW, AND 

RELATED CASES 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS 5

TABLE OF AUTHORITIES 6

GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS 10

STATEMENT OF IDENTITY, INTEREST IN CASE, AND SOURCE OF 

AUTHORITY TO FILE 11

INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT 14

ARGUMENT 15

I. POLLING DATA IS INCREASINGLY UNRELIABLE 15

II. THE CPD INCLUSION CRITERIA ARE ABNORMALLY HARSH 22

CONCLUSION 26

CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE WITH TYPE-VOLUME LIMITATION, 

TYPEFACE REQUIREMENT, AND TYPE STYLE REQUIREMENT 28

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 29

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TABLE OF AUTHORITIES

Cases

Balsam v. Guadagno, No. 15-39 (U.S. 2015), Brief for FairVote and the Center for 

Competitive Democracy as Amici Curiae in Support of Neither Party 11

Gill v. Whitford, No. 16-1161 (U.S. 2017), Brief for FairVote and One Nation One 

Vote as Amici Curiae in Support of Appellees 11

Higginson v. Becerra, No. 19-55275 (9th Cir. 2019), Brief for FairVote as Amicus 

Curiae in support of Appellees 11

Level the Playing Field v. FEC, No. 1:15-cv-01397 (TSC), Brief for FairVote as 

Amicus Curiae 12

Rubin v. Padilla, No. 15-135 (U.S. 2015), Brief for FairVote and the Center for 

Competitive Democracy as Amici Curiae in Support of Neither Party 11

Statutes

11 C.F.R. § 110.13(c) (Dec. 15, 2014), Robert Richie, Re: Petition for Rulemaking 

from Level the Playing Field to Revise and Amend 12

ARIZ. REV. STAT. ANN. § 16-956(A)(2) (2011) 24

Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (1991). 17

Rules

Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(7)(B)(i) 28

Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(5) 28

Fed. R. App. P. 32(a)(6) 28

L.R. 28(a)(1)(A) 2

L.R. 28(a)(1)(C) 3

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Articles

Andrew Mercer, Claudia Deane and Kyley McGeeney, Why 2016 election polls 

missed their mark, Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2016/11/09/why-2016-election-polls-missed-their-mark/ 18

Andrew Prokop and Christina Animashaun, Elizabeth Warren leads Joe Biden in 

ranked-choice poll, Vox, Sep. 12, 2019, 

https://www.vox.com/2019/9/12/20860985/poll-democratic-primary-rankedchoice-warren-biden 21

Carl Bialik, Why the Polls Missed Bernie Sanders Michigan Upset, 

FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, Mar. 9, 2016, http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-thepolls-missed-bernie-sanders-michigan-upset/ 19

Cliff Zukin, What’s the Matter With Polling?, N.Y. TIMES, June 20, 2015, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/sunday/whats-the-matter-withpolling.html 20

Dan Balz, The debate over debates: Why should polls pick winners and losers?, 

THE WASHINGTON POST, Nov. 7, 2015, 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-debate-over-debates-why-shouldpolls-pick-winners-and-losers/2015/11/07/1e107b86-84d7-11e5-9afb0c971f713d0c_story.html 21

Danielle Kurtzleben, 4 Possible Reasons The Polls Got It So Wrong This Year, 

NPR, https://www.npr.org/2016/11/14/502014643/4-possible-reasons-the-pollsgot-it-so-wrong-this-year 18

Jill Lepore, Politics and the New Machine, THE NEW YORKER, Nov. 16, 2015, 

available at http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/16/politics-and-thenew-machine. 17, 23

Larry Diamond, Ending the Presidential-Debate Duopoly, THE ATLANTIC, Mary 8, 

2015, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/ending-thepresidential-debate-duopoly/392480/ 26

Leaders’ debate: ICM/Guardian poll puts Miliband ahead - just, theguardian, 

April 2, 2015, 

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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/apr/02/leaders-debatecameron-and-miliband-go-head-to-head-with-other-parties-live 26

Michael Barone, Why Political Polls Are So Often Wrong, The Wall Street Journal, 

Nov. 11, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-political-polls-are-so-oftenwrong-1447285797 20

Michael W. Link, et. al., Reaching the U.S. Cell Phone Generation, 71 PUBLIC 

OPIN. Q. 814 (2007). 17

Nate Cohn, A 2016 Review: Why Key State Polls Were Wrong About Trump, New 

York Times, May 31, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/upshot/a2016-review-why-key-state-polls-were-wrong-about-trump.html 18

Nick Anstead, We need to look at other parliamentary democracies for ideas about 

how to run televised debates, MEDIA POLICY PROJECT BLOG, THE LONDON 

SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, 

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2014/10/15/we-need-to-look-at-otherparliamentary-democracies-for-ideas-about-how-to-run-televised-debates/ 24

Paul Merrill, Maine governor hopefuls face off in first debate, WMTW NEWS 8, 

Oct. 8, 2014, http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine-governor-hopefuls-face-off-infirst-debate/29007466 23

Politico, Democratic primary polls: Who’s ahead in the 2020 race?, 

https://www.politico.com/2020-election/democratic-presidentialcandidates/polls/ 21

The problem with polls, THE WEEK, April 10, 2016, 

http://theweek.com/articles/617109/problem-polls. 19

Television debates, ACE, http://aceproject.org/epicen/CDTable?view=country&question=ME059 24

What Is Public Opinion Polling and Why Is It Important?, GALLUP WORLD POLL

(2007), available at 

http://media.gallup.com/muslimwestfacts/PDF/PollingAndHowToUseItR1drevE

NG.pdf. 16

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Reports

Nick Anstead, Televised Debates in Parliamentary Democracies, MEDIA POLICY 

PROJECT, THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, 10–11 

(January, 2015) 25

Parties and Candidates, THE ACE ENCYCLOPAEDIA, ACE, 

http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/pc/pcc/pcc07 24

Polling Fundamentals - Total Survey Error, ROPER CENTER, CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY, http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/support/polling-fundamentals-totalsurvey-error/ (last visited, April 11, 2016). 16,17

White House 2016: General Election, POLLINGREPORT.COM, 

http://www.pollingreport.com/wh16gen.htm (last visited April 11, 2016) 

(summarizing various polls that included who participants would vote for 

president “if the election were held today”). 16

Internet Sources

Guidelines for Debates and Forums, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS WISCONSIN, July, 

2014, http://www.lwvwi.org/Members/GuidelinesforDebates.aspx 23

League of Women Voters (LWV) Candidate Forum Guidelines, League of Women 

Voters San Diego, 

http://www.lwvsandiego.org/files/CANDIDATE_FORUM_GUIDELINES.pdf23

Renee Davidson, 4 Reasons You Should Watch a Candidate Debate, LEAGUE OF 

WOMEN VOTERS, Oct. 7, 2014, http://lwv.org/blog/4-reasons-you-should-watchcandidate-debate 22

The League of Women Voters and Candidate Debates: A Changing Relationship, 

League of Women Voters, http://lwv.org/content/league-women-voters-andcandidate-debates-changing-relationship (last visited April 11, 2016) 22

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GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS

CPD Commission on Presidential Debates

FEC Federal Elections Commission

COFOE Coalition for Free and Open Elections

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STATEMENT OF IDENTITY, INTEREST IN CASE, AND SOURCE OF 

AUTHORITY TO FILE

FairVote is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in the District 

of Columbia, whose mission is to advocate for fairer representation in government 

through changes to the election process. FairVote’s goal is to promote the voices 

and views of every voter, grounded in evidence that the use of a more fair election 

process will help create a government that is more representative and effective. 

FairVote encourages public officials, judges, and the public to explore fairer and 

more inclusive election methods, including through litigation when appropriate.

FairVote has previously filed amicus curiae briefs in a variety of cases, 

including cases regarding voter choice in general elections, the role of primary 

elections, and in cases brought under the Voting Rights Act. See Brief for FairVote 

as Amicus Curiae in support of Appellees, Higginson v. Becerra, No. 19-55275 

(9th Cir. 2019); Brief for FairVote and One Nation One Vote as Amici Curiae in 

Support of Appellees, Gill v. Whitford, No. 16-1161 (U.S. 2017); Brief for 

FairVote and the Center for Competitive Democracy as Amici Curiae in Support of 

Neither Party, Rubin v. Padilla, No. 15-135 (U.S. 2015); Brief for FairVote and the 

Center for Competitive Democracy as Amici Curiae in Support of Neither Party, 

Balsam v. Guadagno, No. 15-39 (U.S. 2015). FairVote previously participated as 

amicus curiae in this case, at an earlier stage in litigation. Brief for FairVote as 

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Amicus Curiae, Level the Playing Field v. FEC, No. 1:15-cv-01397 (TSC), 

available at https://fairvote.app.box.com/file/61453602489.

Amicus has published articles and comments advocating for and critically 

analyzing reforms to debate qualification rules. See, e.g., Robert Richie, Re: 

Petition for Rulemaking from Level the Playing Field to Revise and Amend 11 

C.F.R. § 110.13(c) (Dec. 15, 2014), available at http://www.shapiroarato.com/wpcontent/uploads/2014/12/FairVote-Comment-12.15.14.pdf. Because of its 

familiarity with the benefits and drawbacks of debate rules, independent and third 

party participation in debates, and debate rule reforms, FairVote is particularly 

well-suited to expound on this issue.

The Coalition for Free and Open Elections (COFOE) is a nonprofit advocacy 

organization dedicated to the idea that full and fair access to the electoral process is 

central to democracy. COFOE is a group of independents and representatives from 

alternative parties. Since the 1980s, the group has supported efforts to remove 

barriers that prevent non-major-party candidates and would-be voters from fully 

participating in the political process.

The third-party candidates and voters that make up COFOE’s constituency 

have an interest in the questions presented, because participation in presidential 

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debates is an essential way that third-party and independent candidates participate 

in elections.

Amici received consent from Plaintiffs-Appellants to file on August 31, 

2019 and from Defendant-Appellee on September 19, 2019. Amici certify that (1) 

no counsel for a party authored this brief in whole or in part, and that (2) no person 

other than the amici curiae, their members (if applicable), or their counsel 

contributed money that was intended to fund the preparation or submission of this 

brief.

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INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

FairVote agrees with the arguments made by Plaintiffs-Appellants, and files 

separately to expand on the important factual background that goes to the heart of 

the legal questions they present.

The Federal Elections Commission (“FEC”) acted arbitrarily, capriciously 

and contrary to law by approving of the Commission on Presidential Debates’ 

(“CPD”) exclusive reliance on polling as a means of assessing public support. 

Polling as a method of assessing public support is increasingly unreliable. 

Traditional polling methods relied on calling landline telephones for a sample of 

likely voters, and then extrapolating from that to estimate public support. These 

methods have become dated in a number of ways, leading to polls becoming more 

likely to fail, sometimes spectacularly, in correctly predicting election outcomes. 

This makes their use as the sole substantive exclusionary criterion for inclusion in 

debates for the nation’s highest executive office unacceptable, especially when 

compounded with the high polling threshold required for inclusion.

Further, the exclusive use of five selected polls with a minimum 15% 

threshold for inclusion is abnormally harsh. Both in the states and in other nations, 

debate inclusion rules vary, but are generally far less exclusive than those used by 

the CPD. Debates may be conducted by non-profit organizations operating in the 

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public interest, by the media directly, or by a public agency, and they may follow 

one set of rules or vary their rules as the election season progresses. In any case, a 

rule effectively limiting the debates to only two candidates is more limiting than 

either the state or international norms.

ARGUMENT

FairVote submits this brief to highlight important factual background which 

tends to suggest that the rules adopted by the CPD cannot be justified by an interest 

in orderly debates among serious candidates, but rather suggest an interest in 

preventing competition from those outside the two major parties in the general 

election. First, polling is too unreliable to be used as an exclusive means of testing 

for public support. Second, the debate inclusion rules used by the CPD are 

abnormal, and are out of step with recommended practices for both debates for 

governor in states and debates for public office in other democratic nations. 

I. POLLING DATA IS INCREASINGLY UNRELIABLE

The way the CPD uses polls to determine debate eligibility fails to account 

for the limitations of polling data. Although polling data can be useful as one line 

of evidence for public support, it is insufficiently reliable to be used as the sole 

determinant for debate inclusion. 

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Polling in elections relies on asking representative samples of people their 

answers to various questions and then making inferences from those answers about 

the opinions and behaviors of the voting public in general. See generally, What Is 

Public Opinion Polling and Why Is It Important?, GALLUP WORLD POLL (2007), 

available at 

http://media.gallup.com/muslimwestfacts/PDF/PollingAndHowToUseItR1drevEN

G.pdf. For example, a poll may ask a “likely voter” for whom they would vote 

were the election held today. See, e.g., White House 2016: General Election, 

POLLINGREPORT.COM, http://www.pollingreport.com/wh16gen.htm (last visited 

April 11, 2016) (summarizing various polls that included who participants would 

vote for for president “if the election were held today”). Then, the polling agency 

would weigh respondents according to characteristics such as age, education, race 

and income so that their sample reflects, as closely as possible, the population in 

general. Polling Fundamentals - Total Survey Error, ROPER CENTER, CORNELL 

UNIVERSITY, http://ropercenter.cornell.edu/support/polling-fundamentals-totalsurvey-error/ (last visited, April 11, 2016). Using these weights, responses are then 

aggregated to produce estimates of who likely voters actually would vote for, were

the election held today, as a means of estimating how actual voters will actually 

vote when the election is held. Id. These estimates are just that: estimates. They 

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always have a degree of uncertainty and a margin of error. Additionally, 

weaknesses in polling design and execution tend to increase the error associated 

with polling figures.

One common problem today is that the ability to draw a representative 

sample can be impeded by a technological or informational barrier. For example, 

polls historically relied on calling people on their home phones. See generally, 

Michael W. Link, et. al., Reaching the U.S. Cell Phone Generation, 71 PUBLIC 

OPIN. Q. 814 (2007). However, increasingly people rely on mobile phones, with 40 

percent of adults no longer owning a landline at all. Jill Lepore, Politics and the 

New Machine, THE NEW YORKER, Nov. 16, 2015, available at

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/16/politics-and-the-new-machine.

Polling agencies have attempted to compensate for this, but either prospective 

pollees simply do not answer their phones or the lists are compiled from skewed or 

otherwise unreliable sources, given the absence of the equivalent of a phone book 

for mobile phones and a federal ban on autodialing to cell phones. Id.; Telephone 

Consumer Protection Act of 1991, 47 U.S.C. § 227 (1991). 

Even with a perfectly representative sample, polling estimates of support 

have error margins, often as high as 5 to 10 percentage points. Polling 

Fundamentals - Total Survey Error, supra. When compounded with these sources 

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of unrepresentativeness in sampling, candidates polling below 15 percent may 

actually have as much as 25 percent support, certainly high enough to consider 

them viable candidates with a viewpoint the voting public deserves to hear in 

debates.

Inaccurate polls can clash with actual voting results in spectacular ways, 

eroding public confidence in their use. This is particularly true today, given the 

outcome of the 2016 presidential election compared to the predictions being made 

by analysts relying principally on polls. There exists no shortage of media pieces 

bemoaning how inaccurate such polls were. E.g., Nate Cohn, A 2016 Review: Why 

Key State Polls Were Wrong About Trump, New York Times, May 31, 2017, 

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/upshot/a-2016-review-why-key-state-pollswere-wrong-about-trump.html; Danielle Kurtzleben, 4 Possible Reasons The Polls 

Got It So Wrong This Year, NPR, https://www.npr.org/2016/11/14/502014643/4-

possible-reasons-the-polls-got-it-so-wrong-this-year; Andrew Mercer, Claudia 

Deane and Kyley McGeeney, Why 2016 election polls missed their mark, Pew 

Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/why-2016-

election-polls-missed-their-mark/.

Signs of this unreliability had shown up in the 2016 primary campaign, and 

demonstrated the weaknesses of polling as a means of identifying accurate levels 

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of support. In March of 2016, for example, Bernie Sanders outperformed his 

polling by over 20 percentage points in the Michigan Democratic primary. Carl 

Bialik, Why the Polls Missed Bernie Sanders’ Michigan Upset, FIVETHIRTYEIGHT, 

Mar. 9, 2016, http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-polls-missed-berniesanders-michigan-upset/. That upset demonstrated many of the ways polling data 

can fail to reflect reality. The Michigan polls did not sufficiently correct for their 

lack of young voters, who disproportionately favored Sanders, even while it 

overcompensated in attempting to correct for responses from African Americans, a 

population previously supporting Clinton at higher rates than it did in Michigan. 

Id. That particular example was an outlier, but it serves as an example of how bad 

errors can be, even when multiple polls by multiple polling agencies are used. 

Reliance on polling in the 2012 presidential general election was also 

misplaced. Polling showed a near-tie between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, 

with some—including Gallup—predicting that Mitt Romney would win. The 

problem with polls, THE WEEK, April 10, 2016, 

http://theweek.com/articles/617109/problem-polls. In fact, the president was reelected by a nearly four percentage point margin, amounting to some 5 million 

votes. Id.

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These flaws are likely to erode public confidence in the exclusive use of 

polling as a metric of public support, especially as reports continue to issue from 

popular periodicals highlighting them. E.g. Cliff Zukin, What’s the Matter With 

Polling?, N.Y. TIMES, June 20, 2015, 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/21/opinion/sunday/whats-the-matter-withpolling.html; Michael Barone, Why Political Polls Are So Often Wrong, The Wall 

Street Journal, Nov. 11, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-political-polls-areso-often-wrong-1447285797.

As Plaintiffs demonstrate in their brief, the way the CPD uses polling data to 

determine inclusion in the presidential general election debates virtually guarantees 

that only two candidates will qualify. No candidate who did not run in the 

Democratic or Republican primary has ever met the 15 percent threshold in the 

general election—not even Ross Perot, who participated in the 1992 general 

election debates before that threshold was instituted. That fact, combined with the 

unreliability of polls described here, creates a serious risk of unjustifiably 

excluding one or more serious and potentially viable presidential candidates from 

the debates. 

For example, if a 15 percent threshold were applied to the first Democratic 

primary debates in June, 2019, only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders—the two 

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candidates with the greatest name recognition—would have qualified. See Politico, 

Democratic primary polls: Who’s ahead in the 2020 race?, 

https://www.politico.com/2020-election/democratic-presidential-candidates/polls/

(setting the date to the week ending June 23, 2019). Such a result would have not 

only excluded several high profile candidates, including every woman candidate 

and every person of color, it also would have excluded the candidate the most 

recent polls identify as the likely frontrunner, Elizabeth Warren. See Andrew 

Prokop and Christina Animashaun, Elizabeth Warren leads Joe Biden in rankedchoice poll, Vox, Sep. 12, 2019, https://www.vox.com/2019/9/12/20860985/polldemocratic-primary-ranked-choice-warren-biden.

When candidates for the Republican nomination for president in 2016 began 

participating in debates, only Donald Trump and Ben Carson polled higher than 15 

percent on average, with Marco Rubio in third polling at about 10 percent on 

average. Dan Balz, The debate over debates: Why should polls pick winners and 

losers?, THE WASHINGTON POST, Nov. 7, 2015, 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-debate-over-debates-why-shouldpolls-pick-winners-and-losers/2015/11/07/1e107b86-84d7-11e5-9afb0c971f713d0c_story.html. This demonstrates how a large field of serious 

candidates can split polling totals, causing nearly every candidate to apparently 

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poll poorly. Under those circumstances, candidates invited to debate and 

candidates excluded may both be well within the margin of error of the poll from 

each other, effectively making the exclusions arbitrary. In the Republican primary 

debates, it meant that governors of New York, Louisiana, and Virginia never had a 

chance to present their case to Republican primary voters; in a general election to 

which the 15 percent threshold applies, it means the loss of important perspectives 

on the future of the country.

II. THE CPD INCLUSION CRITERIA ARE ABNORMALLY HARSH

The degree to which the CPD inclusion rules harshly exclude candidates 

who might otherwise contribute meaningfully to the debate can be seen in how out 

of step those rules are with recognized best practices in debates for the office of 

governor in states and in debates for public office in other nations.

In states, debates are often held by nonpartisan public interest organizations 

like the League of Women Voters, who also conducted presidential debates prior to 

the two major parties creating the CPD in 1987. See, Renee Davidson, 4 Reasons 

You Should Watch a Candidate Debate, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, Oct. 7, 2014, 

http://lwv.org/blog/4-reasons-you-should-watch-candidate-debate; The League of 

Women Voters and Candidate Debates: A Changing Relationship, League of 

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debates-changing-relationship (last visited April 11, 2016). The media also 

sponsors debates directly, sometimes in coordination with a particular venue. See, 

e.g., Paul Merrill, Maine governor hopefuls face off in first debate, WMTW NEWS

8, Oct. 8, 2014, http://www.wmtw.com/news/maine-governor-hopefuls-face-offin-first-debate/29007466 (describing a gubernatorial debate between three 

candidates held by a media corporation and noting the plan to hold a second).

When the League of Women Voters sponsors a debate, it typically invites 

every candidate on the ballot, and sometimes includes write-in candidates as well. 

See, e.g., Guidelines for Debates and Forums, LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS 

WISCONSIN, July, 2014, 

http://www.lwvwi.org/Members/GuidelinesforDebates.aspx; League of Women 

Voters (LWV) Candidate Forum Guidelines, League of Women Voters San Diego, 

http://www.lwvsandiego.org/files/CANDIDATE_FORUM_GUIDELINES.pdf

(last visited April 11, 2016) (emphasizing to “[i]nvite all candidates”). When 

media sponsors debates, they adopt their own inclusion rules, presumably to 

maximize the newsworthiness of the event. See, e.g., Lepore, supra (“It would 

make better television” to include Carly Fiorina in an early debate among 

Republican candidates, despite her relatively low polling numbers at the time). 

When a state agency sponsors debates, it ordinarily uses rules more inclusive than 

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those adopted by the CPD. See, e.g., ARIZ. REV. STAT. ANN. § 16-956(A)(2) (2011) 

(instructing the Arizona Clean Elections Commission to sponsor debates and invite 

all candidates).

Internationally, debates are also usually the domain of the media, and they 

typically invite more than two candidates for presidential elections. See Parties 

and Candidates, THE ACE ENCYCLOPAEDIA, ACE, http://aceproject.org/aceen/topics/pc/pcc/pcc07 (last visited April 11, 2016); see also Television debates, 

ACE, http://aceproject.org/epic-en/CDTable?view=country&question=ME059

(last visited April 11, 2016) (table listing countries along with comments on how 

televised debates are conducted, if at all, in that country). When countries do adopt 

public regulations regarding debate inclusion, they use standards more inclusive 

than those of the CPD. For example, Canada permits participation by any 

candidate from a political party with representation in the House of Commons (five 

parties) with a consistent polling threshold of only 5 percent. Nick Anstead, We 

need to look at other parliamentary democracies for ideas about how to run 

televised debates, MEDIA POLICY PROJECT BLOG, THE LONDON SCHOOL OF 

ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, 

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parliamentary-democracies-for-ideas-about-how-to-run-televised-debates/ (last 

visited April 11, 2016). 

Germany follows a similar rule, allowing participation (in the first round of 

debates) by representatives of parties with a presence in the Bundestag, which 

amounts to a 5 percent threshold as well. Id. Germany’s practice also highlights 

another way of balancing the goals of inclusion with an orderly and informative 

process common in other nations: they narrow the inclusion rules over a series of 

debates. Nick Anstead, Televised Debates in Parliamentary Democracies, MEDIA 

POLICY PROJECT, THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE, 

10–11 (January, 2015). In the first round, representatives of any party in the 

Bundestag may participate, but the second round is limited to only three 

candidates. Id. In the U.S., debates also go from more inclusionary (in the 

primaries) to exclusionary (in the general election), but the primary debates are no 

exception for inclusion general election debates, when nominees from different 

political parties and independent candidates face each other before a national 

audience.

In fashioning its rules prior to the 2015 election season, the United Kingdom 

considered the examples of countries like Canada and Germany to adopt a best 

practice. Id. at 13. It ultimately included seven candidates in its national debate in 

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April, 2015. See, Leaders’ debate: ICM/Guardian poll puts Miliband ahead - just, 

theguardian, April 2, 2015, 

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/live/2015/apr/02/leaders-debatecameron-and-miliband-go-head-to-head-with-other-parties-live. More inclusive 

debate rules helped to change the conversation in the United Kingdom, allowing 

the Liberal Democrats to rise in prominence. A similar phenomenon had occurred 

in Canada; the New Democratic Party, traditionally a third party, rose to secondplace in 2011; and in 2015, the Liberal Party went from third place to first place. 

This is not to suggest that the U.S. should be bound by international norms. 

Instead, it is evidence that CPD has adopted a rule that is not justified by ordinary 

debate inclusion rules, such as orderly debates among serious candidates with 

viewpoints reflective of public opinion. Rather, it better reflects a rule designed to 

prevent competition. See, Larry Diamond, Ending the Presidential-Debate 

Duopoly, THE ATLANTIC, Mary 8, 2015, 

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/ending-the-presidentialdebate-duopoly/392480/.

CONCLUSION

As Plaintiffs-Appellants rightfully point out, this issue goes directly to the 

question of the future of American democracy. Evidence suggests that the CPD 

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harshly excludes candidates to the extent that not only are many important 

viewpoints unheard in presidential debates, but viable candidates may fail to 

qualify or choose not to run in the first place because they would fail to qualify. 

The unreliability of polls is such evidence, suggesting that the CPD is less 

interested in testing for public support than they are with creating an artificial 

barrier. Similarly, the degree to which the rule is abnormally harsh suggests that it 

is unjustifiable by the interest in an orderly debate.

DATED: September 25, 2019 Respectfully submitted,

/s/William P. Tedards, Jr.

WILLIAM P. TEDARDS, JR.*

1101 30th Street, NW, Suite 500

Washington, DC 20007

(202) 797-9135

BT@tedards.net 

(DC 143636)

Counsel for FAIRVOTE and

Coalition for Free and Open Elections

/s/Andrew S. Penrose

ANDREW S. PENROSE

FAIRVOTE

6930 Carroll Ave., Suite 240

Takoma Park, MD 20912

(301) 270-4616

dpenrose@fairvote.org 

(AZ 029751)

Counsel for FAIRVOTE

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CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE WITH TYPE-VOLUME 

LIMITATION, TYPEFACE REQUIREMENT, AND TYPE STYLE 

REQUIREMENT

This brief complies with Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32(a)(7)(B)(i) 

because it contains 3,046 words.

This brief complies with the typeface requirements of Federal Rule of 

Appellate Procedure 32(a)(5) and the type-style requirements of Federal Rule of 

Appellate Procedure 32(a)(6) because this brief has been prepared in a 

proportionally spaced typeface using Microsoft Word 2016 in Times New Roman 

14 point font.

/s/William P. Tedards, Jr.

William P. Tedards, Jr.

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on September 25, 2019, I electronically filed the 

foregoing with the Clerk of the Court for the United States Court of Appeals for 

the District of Columbia by using the CM/ECF system. I certify that all 

participants in this case are registered CM/ECF users and that service will be 

accomplished by the CM/ECF system.

/s/William P. Tedards, Jr.

William P. Tedards, Jr.

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