We all know about the 2016 presidential election. No matter your political party, age, race, or geographic location, I think we can all agree on one thing; this year’s election is a mess. “Trump says something racist (what’s new?)” “Clinton lies about her emails.” It seems as if there’s a new scandal every day.

Don’t get me wrong; of course there were presidential elections in the past that have had scandals too, and yes there have been some real idiots allowed onto the debate stage, and even in office. But, this election is different. I have, in my very short lifetime, never witnessed nor heard of an election so out of order.

Trump says he’s going to “build a wall!” and his supporters back him up 100%. Clinton says, “Raise taxes on the wealthy!” and her supporters completely agree. But what if you don’t agree with either of their proposals? What if you dislike both of them? Well, then you would turn to the independent candidates because, yes, we do have more than two political parties even though that isn’t how the media portrays. There’s the Libertarian Party, the Green Party, the Tea Party, and countless others.

A Today.yougov.com poll shows that 62% of the adults surveyed have never even heard of Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Why are some American people unable to identify someone who is in the race to lead their country? The answer is simple; we rarely ever see any Independents in the news.

Everyone knows that it is virtually impossible to even come close to becoming the president if one doesn’t participate in the debates. Changetherule.org says, “A private organization called the Commission on Presidential Debates makes the rules for who gets in. It’s supposed to be a ‘nonpartisan, objective’ body, but the members are chosen by Democratic and Republican party insiders.” In other words, the people who run the debates are supposed to be fair when making the rules, though nobody on the commission is chosen by Independents, so only the Democratic and Republican parties have a say in what the rules are.

The CPD adopted a rule called the “15 percent rule,” which basically gives any Independent candidate only 2 weeks to get over 15% in the polls before the presidential debates start.

I believe that this rule is unfair and completely biased, and it needs to be fixed or removed immediately. Every presidential candidate needs to be recognized and talked about by the media so people know that they are not limited to the two main political parties. The most popular candidates, Independents included, who are eligible to run for president should at least have a chance for their opinions and proposals to be heard in a debate. The CPD needs to listen to what the American people want; a fair election with equal representation.