Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking to force the Commission for Presidential Debates to open this year's general election debates to third party candidates, said Michael O'Neil, staff organizer for the Green Party of New York.

"Not a lot of people remember that the presidential debates on television used to be sponsored by the League of Women Voters. But they excluded themselves ... after the (independent) presidential campaign of Ross Perot in 1996," O'Neil said in an interview at the Warren County Green Party Gala in Glens Falls on Saturday.

"We think it is very important that the American people get to hear from all the candidates," he said. "And a criteria that we think is useful for who should be able to participate in such debates is that if you're going to appear on enough ballots throughout the United States that you have a mathematical chance of winning, ... then you should be able to participate in the debates."

The Green Party had ballot access in 37 states in the 2012 presidential race, said Gloria Mattera, co-chair of Green Party of New York.

Twenty-two states had ballot access for the November election, as of Saturday, and others are in the process of qualifying, she said.

"We're kind of calling it a 50-state strategy, but we certainly hope to increase it to over 40, if we can," she said.

Follow staff writer Maury Thompson at All Politics is Local blog, at PS_Politics on Twitter and at Maury Thompson Post-Star on Facebook.

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