On April 14, the Missouri House Elections Committee added the provisions of HB 796 into an omnibus election law bill, SB 282, and passed the bill. Now the bill goes to the House floor. The Secretary of State supports the bill.
HB 796’s provisions repair a flaw in the state’s petition procedure for a new party to get on the ballot. In Missouri, as in most states, a previously unqualified party gets on the ballot by submitting a petition that does not carry the names of any candidates. If the petition is approved, then the party nominates its candidates. This is usually referred to as a “party petition”. Most states have procedures for a party petition, but some states do not.
The problem in Missouri is that the party petition law has a drafting error, which requires the petitioning party to list the candidate for president and presidential elector on the petition (if that party intends to nominate a presidential candidate), even though none of the group’s other nominees need to be listed. This was contrary to the intent of the law, but for almost 18 years, bills to fix this problem have failed to pass. Thanks to Ken Bush for this news.
Are you saying that a party cannot get on the ballot to run candidates for Congress and the state legislature, unless it also nominates a Presidential candidate? How can that be even remotely constitutional? Why is a bill in the legislature necessary to fix this?
Let me ask the question this way. Does Missouri law say that the Republicans and Democrats are required to run candidates for President, or lose their ballot status if they don’t?
I guess I should re-write the blog post. There is no requirement that a party run anyone for president. But if the party wants to run for president, it must list a presidential candidate and presidential elector candidates on its petition. However, the presidential candidate can be a stand-in.
Where is that Model Election Law — even with separate and UN-equal stuff regarding minor parties and independents ???
This nonstop amdt stuff is like a nonstop political nightmare — going on and on for thousands of years.
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