All four of the Mississippi Reform Party’s candidates for U.S. House have been removed from the November 2010 ballot by the Secretary of State. The Reform Party is ballot-qualified in Mississippi. However, the party’s current state officers had not been registered with the Secretary of State. Although the paperwork problem has now been rectified, the certification of the nominees in this year’s election was held to be invalid.
The candidates had been: Barbara Dale in District One, Ashley Norwood in District Two, Tracella Hill in District Three, and Anna Jewel Revies in District Four.
Mississippi has no U.S. Senate election this year, nor any state office elections either. Mississippi elects all its state officers in the odd years before presidential election years.
Well, well, well… ain’t THAT just dandy!
Will they stay ballot qualified for the 2011 elections?
Mississippi law says a party gains and keeps ballot status by showing that it has an organization. That means the group files a list of its state officers, and its congressional district officers. There is no petition to get on and no vote test to stay on.
The Mississippi law on how parties get on the ballot, and stay on the ballot, has never changed since it was first passed in 1890. The existence of this 120-year old law shows that, at least for small population states, there is no actual need for numerical tests for party qualification.
Delbert Hosemann (R), the secretary of state, also kept Bryan Moore’s presidential electors off the ballot in 2008; the reason was that the paperwork was turned in after 5:00 p. m. on the deadline day. Moore was the Socialist Party nominee who had been nominated in Mississippi by the Natural Law Party.
I would be interested to hear Delbert’s reasoning in the Reform Party case. He certainly doesn’t seem to be willing to give small parties the benefit of the doubt.
Delbert is a possible candidate for governor or lieutenant governor next year.
While I know many Democratic and Republican election officials will do anything to keep an Independent or 3rd party off the ballot, often the fault is the parties themselves.
Many of the “prima donnas” who run such 3rd parties never check the statutes periodically for changes to see what organizational reports are required, when they must be updated and dates when they must be turned it. Also, often the statutes regarding ballot position or qualifying candidates are amended and one must be almost daily in keeping tab of such changes. In other words they must make sure every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted.
Instead, most of these 3rd party advocates are so “excited” of seeing their party name on the ballot and of hearing of it in the news media. It’s sad the Reform party candidates have been removed, but maybe this will be a lesson to those who think statutes regarding ballot access and candidate qualification are just there “to fill up space on the election law book.”
The Reform candidates have until Tuesday, September 7, to appeal this action.