As of late afternoon on October 10, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has not issued a ruling in the case called In re the Substitute Nomination Certificate of Bob Barr as the Libertarian Candidate for President. Barr is on the ballot in Pennsylvania now, and absentee ballots with his name on it have already been mailed. Last month, the Commonwealth Court had kept Barr on the ballot. One presumes that if the Pennsylvania Supreme Court disagrees with the Commonwealth Court, that it would have acted by now. All the briefs have been before that Court since October 2.
The case against Barr depends on the concept that substitution is never supposed to take place unless the stand-in truly expects to be the ultimate nominee, at least originally. But the substitution process in Pennsylvania and other states, as used for minor party and independent presidential campaigns, has always been about putting a stand-in on the petition who knows that he or she is just a stand-in. The stand-in technique is a device to make it possible for a petition to circulate before the party has held its national convention.
Of course, there would be no doubt that he would be on the ballot in 2008, if the LP had not hired Sean Haugh as their “political director”. Sean had not the slightest idea what he was doing in 2008, and we thus only made it on 45 states and no DC, whereas in 2008 we were on the ballot in 48 states and DC (and we only failed in NH because the local NH LP told our activists they were not needed. The manpower was there in 2004 to succeed in 49 states and DC.
Tired of costly and incomplete ballot access for third parties? Why not have the minor parties split the cost of ballot access? Now you can!
Please contribute to that effort online here:
http://www.freedomballotaccess.org
not a fair comparison as every cycle brings different challenges. There was no way to know we would not be on Louisiana because of a Hurricane.
That’s 46. Connecticut and Maine is disputable .
“Jonathan Says:
October 11th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
not a fair comparison as every cycle brings different challenges. There was no way to know we would not be on Louisiana because of a Hurricane.
That’s 46. Connecticut and Maine is disputable .”
The only state that there is any legitimate excuse for the LP not making it on the ballot this year is Oklahoma (and even that could have been accomplished if the LNC had made it a priority and started the petition drive there back in 2007).
There was PLENTY of time for Louisiana. If they hadn’t waited until the last minute the hurricane would not have been a factor.
Due to incompetence, the LP failed this year in West Virginia, Washington DC, Maine, and Louisiana. Connecticut is still in dispute, but the fact of the matter is that if a better job had been done on the petition drive it would not be in dispute right now.
Every presidential election, some political party makes errors in filing. This year the major parties made errors in Texas and California. In 2004 both major parties were late in Florida. In 1988 both major parties were late in Indiana. In 1964, the Democrats were late in Iowa.
But the major parties always get excused, and they should be, because what difference does it make if the elector candidates’ paperwork is submitted late? No one knows who they are anyway. The problem is that there is a double standard, and minor parties are punished for things that major parties are not punished for.
“Richard Says:
October 11th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
Every presidential election, some political party makes errors in filing. This year the major parties made errors in Texas and California. In 2004 both major parties were late in Florida. In 1988 both major parties were late in Indiana. In 1964, the Democrats were late in Iowa.
But the major parties always get excused, and they should be, because what difference does it make if the elector candidates’ paperwork is submitted late? No one knows who they are anyway. The problem is that there is a double standard, and minor parties are punished for things that major parties are not punished for.”
We already know that double standards exsist between how ballot access laws get applied to Democrats and Republicans and how they get applied to minor parties and independents. We already know that minor party and independent candidates often get screwed while election officials often “look the other way” when it comes to Democrats and Republicans.
This is why it is essential that minor party and independent candidates have competent people in charge of ballot access, then mistakes like this won’t happen.
Andy Says:
October 11th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
“We already know that double standards exsist between how ballot access laws get applied to Democrats and Republicans and how they get applied to minor parties and independents. We already know that minor party and independent candidates often get screwed while election officials often “look the other way†when it comes to Democrats and Republicans.
This is why it is essential that minor party and independent candidates have competent people.”
Andy. You have this exactly correct.
The LP needs to get organized.
I agree.
Next election, the LP should start preparing to nominate a candidate that will get a lot of support. Gary Johnson & Jesse Ventura are two very popular potential nominees. Start looking at making big splashes in local, state & governor races.
Only make pushes at Congressional seats that are winnable and can get a ton of support. It’s very possible for the LP to make a splash but they need to revamp the entire LNC committee and get rid of all the bad campaign workers that plagued the Barr/Root campaign, and let them leech on the Constitution or Republican parties.
-kombayn