On August 30, the Arizona Democratic Party filed a complaint with the Attorney General, the U.S. Attorney, and the Maricopa County Attorney, saying that three Republicans recruited various people to file in the Green Party primary. See this story. Here is the 12-page letter.
On the one hand, the activity complained of certainly is not illegal, notwithstanding the arguments made in the letter. On the other hand, the activity is harmful to the Green Party, which had already been complaining about the activity. The recruited candidates are not sincere and have no desire to campaign or to meet with Green Party leaders. Thanks to Bradley Jansen for the link.
The Arizona Green Party are schmucks to allow this to happen.
Does the Arizona Green Party have a choice in the matter? Election officials have a habit of making the law up as they go along.
There is really no defense for a minor party that is required to nominate by primary, although in a few states, parties do have the right to prevent candidates from running in their primaries based on the candidate’s stands on issues.
I do not believe that a party organization or leadership should be making decisions on what candidates are legitimate and which are not: that is the role of voters. Many states require that a candidate receive a minimum number of write-in votes (10 to 100 depending on the office sought) in order to qualify.
In some states Greens have provided a “none of these” option on the ballot, which allows for choosing not to nominate a candidate for that race. This allows voters to decide if candidates are qualified, share the parties key values, and meet the strategic interest of the party/movement/voter.