Filing for the Arizona Republican and Green Party presidential primaries closed on January 10. Jon Huntsman’s paperwork was rejected by the Secretary of State because his signature was not notarized. He was unable to repair the problem, because he had filed only two hours before the deadline.
Arizona does not require anything except a declaration of candidacy, but it must be notarized. Twenty-three Republicans did qualify.
Six Greens will appear on the Green Party primary ballot: three Arizonans, Gerard Davis, Michael Oatman, and Richard Grayson; also three non-Arizonans, Kent Mesplay, Jill Stein, and Gary Swing.
It is hard to see how Huntsman’s campaign could let this happen when many DIY candidates could successfully do this. The form is very clear that it had to be notarized. I just went to the nearest Chase branch. Maybe Jon Huntsman doesn’t have a bank account?
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Evidently your blog doesn’t take Chinese characters. My last line was the Mandarin for the Chinese proverb, “If a person has ambition, things will be accomplished.”
WTF…I am supporter of Huntsman, but this is criminally negligent of his campaign staff.
Can this ballot access be any easier?! Is there any other state with “tougher” ballot access?
Am I correct in assuming no one filed for the LP primary?
I’ve read several reports on this and it’s somewhat unclear whether the issue was the signature being notarized or that they filed a copy that lacked the original signature. The paper that was filed was “notarized” by a Justice of the Peace in New Hampshire. Under New Hampshire law, a JP can perform notarial functions. However, the JP did not affix their seal, which is recommended by the NH Sec of State. The National Journal posted a copy of the document here: http://syndication.nationaljournal.com/images/Huntsman.pdf
In any case, this is sloppy legal work by the Huntsman team. First, the JP should have been made to put their seal on the document and second, you don’t try to file a copy. And, if necessary, you stick someone on a plane to file in person. They had plenty of time to get an original to Phoenix; the form was apparently signed on the 4th of January.
I live in NJ where the ‘major’ parties have a lock on the primaries. There is no mechanism for third parties to run candidates in a primary. NJ continues to lump third parties together under the misleading ‘Independent’ label.
I was at the Capitol this morning for the drawing of lots for ballot order in the primary. Afterward, AZ Secretary of State Bennett was asked about Huntsman filing suit to get his name on the ballot. He said he would of course accede to whatever a court decided, but the suit better be filed fast, as Maricopa County plans to begin to print their ballots tonight.
It’s now unclear, at least to me after what I heard this morning, whether it was an issue of notarization or a genuine signature.
How many armies of lawyers and nonstop computerized law updates are now needed to be a Prez candidate with the EVIL insane byzantine MORON laws in the various MORON state regimes ???
I love Arizona. It has to have the easiest ballot access requirement for a presidential preference election of any state in the country. I didn’t have to pay a filing fee or collect signatures. I filled out a two page nomination petition, had it signed in notorized at my bank, and mailed it in. The total cost was 44 cents. If Jon Huntsman and his campaign staff can’t manage that, you have to wonder what kind of a president he would make.
Their minds were on New Hampshire and not on what they should be doing next in Arizona. They need to have people on the staff who are looking at the next primaries.
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I have pics of the ballot drawing with Gerard Davis and some other candidates at the Pinal County Greens website.
#4, there is no 2012 presidential primary in Arizona for either the Libertarian Party or the Democratic Party.
In 1996 the Arizona Democratic Party, and the Arizona Libertarian Party, jointly sued the Secretary of State and won the case. The issue in the 1996 case was whether parties can stop the state from putting on a presidential primary for them. It just happens that again in 2012, those two particular parties don’t want a presidential primary, so the Arizona Secretary of State of course didn’t provide for one for them. Americans Elect is also skipping having a presidential primary in Arizona.
Hey Richard, do you know of anywhere to find the Democratic primary results from NH? I’m curious to see how Darcy Richardson and the others did against Obama.
#14, thanks for the suggestion. See the blog post of January 11 giving a link to the results for all candidates who were on the ballot.
It’s interesting to note the Arizona Green Party’s take on ballot access for the presidential primary, as seen in yesterday’s Pima [County] Greens Green Party Digest and articulated by Claudia Ellquist (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pimagreens/message/357):
“izona politicians, being what they are, have set up a system where any voter can run for president, by just submitting a self-nominating affidavit. Among others, the Tucson Weekly promotes such self-nominations, and explains to their readers how to do it. The result is that a total of 23 Rs will be on the ballot, and 6 Greens.”
The Arizona Green Party’s belief, and Claudia Ellquist’s, in making it harder for candidates for candidates to qualify for the ballot was also seen in the failed 2010 federal case, Arizona Green Party and Ellquist v. Bennett, et al., when they brought suit to remove several successful Green Party write-in candidate primary victors, including myself, from the ballot, arguing that the state should have required more write-in votes to win the nomination of the party.
The Arizona Green Party and Ms. Ellquist may be unique among minor parties and their leaders in consistently arguing against easier ballot access for minor party candidates.