To the editor:

Candidates participate in debates to help voters understand who they are and what they stand for. This is why the upcoming presidential debates must include all of the candidates who are on enough ballots to be able to win the presidency.

In 2016, that would mean four candidates in the debates, including: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Jill Stein and Libertarian Gary Johnson. As it stands now, only Clinton and Trump will debate unless the voters demand the right to hear all the candidates on the ballot.

The entity responsible for organizing the debates is the Commission on Presidential Debates, a corporation controlled by the Democratic and Republican parties. The nonpartisan League of Women Voters has called the commission “a fraud on the American voter.” It is plainly in the interest of the commission to stifle democracy by locking out independent candidates from the debates.

The right to vote means little unless we have the right to know whom we can vote for. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should follow the example of Ronald Reagan, who insisted in 1980 that independent candidate John Anderson be included in debates. When President Carter refused, Reagan debated Anderson without Carter.

We can make democracy work if a strong public voice is raised in protest against the omission of Stein and Johnson. Let the commission and the Trump and Clinton campaigns hear from you about including all candidates on the ballot.

TRACY VANCURA

Bainbridge Island