On September 5, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court in Philadelphia held a trial on whether there is anything deficient with the paperwork that names Bob Barr as the Libertarian presidential nominee in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania law authorizes substitution. The Libertarian Party started circulating its statewide petition in February 2008, before the party had chosen its national nominee. After the petition was submitted, paperwork was submitted showing that the stand-in, Rochelle Etzel, had withdrawn, and that Bob Barr is the substitution committee’s choice to replace her.
The objectors had claimed that it was wrong for the party to continue circulating the petition (with the stand-in’s name on it) in the months after the Libertarian national convention. Bob Barr’s attorney put on witnesses to establish that the party simply followed normal procedure in Pennsylvania for presidential petitions, and that the same thing was done in the three previous presidential elections, not only for the Libertarians, but for other minor parties as well.
Richard, no matter how this plays out, will this affect the Libertarians having either Barr or Etzel on the ballot this year? Since they qualified with enough signatures, one or the other will be on, correct?
“Bob Barr’s attorney put on witnesses to establish that the party simply followed normal procedure in Pennsylvania for presidential petitions, and that the same thing was done in the three previous presidential elections, not only for the Libertarians, but for other minor parties as well.”
Hopefully, this should be the thing that closes the book on this case.
Do we have an idea as to when a decision is likely to be rendered?
I attended the hearing and I feel pretty good about our side, however there is likely to be an appeal no matter which side loses, so today’s hearing is unlikely to decide the case. I do not believe that if the challengers are successful that we could still have Etzel on the ballot since she officially withdrew, but I’m not an expert.
The LP ballot status for CT still says “finished.” Nader is “already on” and it seems to be taking a long time. When will we know? Looks like another failure in the making.