In Madison County, Ohio, elections officials used a marking pen on all ballots to blacken out the Libertarian and Constitution Party candidates for president, who had qualified for the ballot in Ohio and whose names had been printed on all state ballots. When voters asked why, it became apparent that the county elections office had taken the order to blacken out Nader’s name, as a blanket order to blacken out the names of all the minor party presidential candidates, leaving only Kerry and Bush.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
Sounds as if the election officials are as incompetent as the Republocrat candidates.
Can we sue and make ’em hold the election over?
This seems like good grounds for a court ordered ballot line in the next (presidential) election. I figure that at about $10,000 to $15,000 value.
I agree with charles. The Constitution Party and Libertarian Party should be given ballot status for the next election or 2 elections without having to pettion for this screw up by the state.
Can we sue and make ‘em hold the election over?
Yes and no, or rather maybe and no.
Ordering a new election is an extreme and disfavored remedy used only in occasions where it can be proved the outcome of the election might have been different. Here, the minor party candidates were going to lose anyway.
It’s too late for meaningful injunctive relief. Damages are the way to go. The county can be sued for damages and legal fees. The individuals would probably be given qualified immunity.
A rights violation occured for which the statutes provide a remedy, but as an economic proposition, it may not be a winner.
“We can sue. We who? You can sue. Plan on a filing fee of $150 and legal fees of $150/hr for, say, 1000 hours, which you might or might not get back if you win.
Some courts are confused and think that only nominal damages of $1 are available in these kinds of cases. That’s wrong, but popular.
The Libertarian Party, last I checked, has no lawyer on staff, and has a very limited budget. I believe in the long run such a position would pay for itself out of legal fees generated, but I’ve never gotten around to sending in a memo putting forth that position. They tend to rely on hoping somebody local will do it pro bono, instead of having a planned coordinated effort. Nader is ahead in that respect. Right now there are thousands of lawyers who were ready to go battle in a bush v gore II kind of case, and maybe one of them would take a case like this. I don’t know anything about the legal resources the constitution party has. I would say, recruit a lawyer, file a case, try to bluff a quick settlement, try to spin the case for publicity value, but don’t bother spending years and thousands on it. And they know this, and will bluff back, so prospects aren’t that good.
I’m willing to discuss this further. We had a similar case in Indiana a few years back, in which one of our candidates was left off the ballot in one county, that I never got around to following up with with a lawsuit. I’m no longer trying to make a living from those kinds of cases, it just didn’t work out for me, it might for someone else.