On August 27, a Louisiana Republican Party state meeting entertained a motion that the party assert a right to block certain candidates from using the word “Republican” on the ballot. See this story. The proposal was not passed but may be considered at a future meeting. The Republican Party is almost certainly not able to take this step, because in Louisiana, no party has nominees for any office except President and presidential elector. All candidates run in the general election, with the label that matches their voter registration membership. If Louisiana Republicans want control over their name on ballots, they would need to reinstate partisan primaries for office other than president.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
I wonder how this applies to the Oregon Constitution party who seem to be able to control the use of the word “constitution” and prevent a national party with the same name from getting on the ballot labeled as such even though they aren’t doing as Idaho and nominating someone different?
It doesn’t. Oregon and Idaho have completely different laws from Louisiana.
David Duke is not a Republican , he is a neo nazi who is too lazy to work , I hope they bar him from using the word Republican
David Duke has been a registered Republican in Louisiana since 1988. He was elected to the state house of representatives as a Republican in a special election in 1989. In 1990 he came in second for U.S. Senate with the label “Republican”, and in 1991 he came in second for Governor with the label “Republican.”
I always wondered why some enterprising group of individuals never tried to take over the “GOP” moniker. If you sought to confuse the electorate, it’d be a good way to go about it but the Republicans have no legal right to the name as far as I’m aware, it’s just a nickname.
The label “Republican” in CA, LA and WA doesn’t indicate the candidate is the nominee of the party. In CA and WA, they have a non-partisan primary, and in LA they don’t have a primary, but a general election characterized as a “jungle primary” and a run-off. The label only indicates the preference of the candidate. It may or may not communicate anything to voters. The parties can disavow a candidate’s use of its label, but can’t stop the candidate from using it. What is the state to do (in its regulation of the ballot)? Allow parties to decide who may and who may not use their label? My goodness, you don’t want that. In the absence of a better alternative, we deal with the occasional white supremacist calling himself a Republican, and should that person finish among the top two for an office with real power, like Governor, bring out the President of the United States and everybody else we can to say the guy ain’t one of us.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/cert/06-713