It’s a very curious opinion. Some petition circulators were required to proved their “residence,” and so some of them provided a temporary in-state residence instead of a permanent out-of-state residence. The US District Court Judge said that the in-state residency requirement was probably unconstituional, but nevertheless he asserted that the petition circulators had committed “fraud” by not providing their permanent out-of-state addresses. Thus, it’s a rather peculiar decision. Additionally, the alleged “fraud” of these petition circulators is used to taint the Nader campaign as well as the thousands of legitimate petition signers, none of whom did anything wrong (i.e. the petition circulators were paid employees of an outside contractor).
Perhaps the Ohio Supreme Court will restore Nader to the Ohio ballot, or perhaps they will endorse the rationale (or irrationale!) of the US District Court.
Ralph Nader recently commented about the Ohio ballot situation. He said that Democrats this year “have spent literally millions of dollars trying to keep us off the ballot in the so-called close states. . . . The former law firm of Ken Starr, Kirkland & Ellis has been hired in Ohio, with 50 lawyers swarming over that state to keep us off the ballot under the most arcane, phony technicalities imaginable.” Amen to that.
The US District Court case that the Nader campaign appealed to the Sixth Circuit can be found at http://www.andrewhyman.com/nader.pdf
It’s a very curious opinion. Some petition circulators were required to proved their “residence,” and so some of them provided a temporary in-state residence instead of a permanent out-of-state residence. The US District Court Judge said that the in-state residency requirement was probably unconstituional, but nevertheless he asserted that the petition circulators had committed “fraud” by not providing their permanent out-of-state addresses. Thus, it’s a rather peculiar decision. Additionally, the alleged “fraud” of these petition circulators is used to taint the Nader campaign as well as the thousands of legitimate petition signers, none of whom did anything wrong (i.e. the petition circulators were paid employees of an outside contractor).
Perhaps the Ohio Supreme Court will restore Nader to the Ohio ballot, or perhaps they will endorse the rationale (or irrationale!) of the US District Court.
Ralph Nader recently commented about the Ohio ballot situation. He said that Democrats this year “have spent literally millions of dollars trying to keep us off the ballot in the so-called close states. . . . The former law firm of Ken Starr, Kirkland & Ellis has been hired in Ohio, with 50 lawyers swarming over that state to keep us off the ballot under the most arcane, phony technicalities imaginable.” Amen to that.