On June 7, the Arizona Secretary of State said the Green Party cannot be on the ballot in November for President, because the party missed the deadline for submitting the names of presidential elector candidates. At the time the decision was made, the Secretary of State did not know that in 1996, when the Libertarian Party was also late with its Arizona electors, a judge reversed the Libertarian exclusion.
On June 8, the Secretary of State’s office became aware of the 1996 decision, but says it still won’t reverse its stance, and that the Green Party will need to file a lawsuit. The 1996 case was Arizona Libertarian Party v Hull, Maricopa Superior Court, cv96-13996. The basis for the 1996 decision was that (1) the state had no interest in setting such an early deadline for presidential elector candidates; (2) the evidence showed that when the Democratic and Republican Parties miss such deadlines, they are always forgiven. Instances known to exist when the Democratic and Repubiican Parties missed such deadlines are from Florida, Indiana, Iowa, and Texas.
The Arizona Green Party chose presidential elector candidates in March 2016, but due to a slip-up, didn’t submit their names by last week’s deadline.
I always think that there’s something central to Green philosophy that leads to events like this. We’re very self destructive as a group.
Does that mean that Jill Stein will have to qualify as an independent candidate in Arizona?
No. But it means she and the party must file a lawsuit. It will win based on the 1996 precedent.
How many zillion lawsuits are there in force regarding ALL of the UNEQUAL machinations by the oligarchy forces of the Donkeys/Elephants ???
How about demanding $$$ DAMAGES to bankrupt the statist robot party hacks involved ???
They might win the case, but will they win it in time for the election? I think the secretary of state will simply drag things out until it’s too late to change the ballot.
Is there anything Arizona Greens can do to help going forward?