Third-party candidates have long had difficulty gaining attention in national races. This year, Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, former Republican governor of New Mexico, filed a lawsuit against the Commission of Presidential Debates earlier this month. In his suit, Johnson states that the organization violates the Sherman antitrust laws and accuses the commission of conspiring with the Democratic and Republican national committees and meeting in secret in order to create the debate rules and agreeing to exclude third-party candidates.

Johnson is approved to appear on the ballot in 47 states and the District of Columbia. He has decisions pending in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma. This means that he would have a pool of a possible 495 electoral votes. This is above the commission’s requirement for candidates to have at least a possible 270 electoral votes to appear in debates.

Johnson falls short of debate requirements in one area. The commission has polling requirements in addition to ballot appearance requirements. The Commission of Presidential Debates uses five undisclosed polls as sources to decide who appears in the debates. Candidates must receive at least 15 percent of the nationwide vote in these polls to appear onstage in the debates. Johnson has gotten at most 3 percent of the vote in most polls. Johnson is not even included in the Gallup polls. Gallup does not include any third-party candidates in their polls.

This is not the first time that the Commission of Presidential Debates has been accused of not treating third-party candidates fairly. In 2000, Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader sued the commission, stating that the commission violated the Federal Election Campaign Act. Nader stated that the Commission of Presidential Debates had violated said law’s stipulations stating that the commission would not “endorse, support or oppose political candidates or political parties.” His lawsuit was eventually dismissed in 2005.

As Johnson will most likely not be allowed to appear in the debates, he has been trying to increase his visibility through the use of social media. He used Reddit to host an “Ask Me Anything,” forum. In addition, he has been making appearances on college campuses.

He is planning to respond to the debates after they air to make up for the fact that he will not have the opportunity to appear. Johnson has been emphasizing to his supporters the importance of a grassroots effort at this stage in the campaign. “The most effective thing that anyone can do is to go out and sell your immediate family, friends, and coworkers to the fact that there is a legitimate third choice. Perhaps the only choice,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s website now contains petitions to help get him on the televised debates. They can be found at http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/