On May 15, the Michigan Libertarian Party and Gary Johnson asked the 6th circuit to rehear the ballot access case from last year, Libertarian Party of Michigan v Ruth Johnson. The issue is whether Michigan’s “sore loser” can be applied to presidential primaries, and also whether the Michigan law in fact does pertain to presidential primaries. Here is the brief.
Until 2012, no minor party presidential candidate had ever been kept off a November ballot on the basis that he or she had run in a major party presidential primary. Presidential primaries have existed in the U.S. starting in 1912. In the 26 presidential elections starting in 1912, there have been eleven presidential elections in which someone who had run in a major party presidential primary had also appeared as a minor party or independent presidential candidate in November. Those elections, and the candidates involved, were 1912 Theodore Roosevelt, 1924 Robert La Follette, 1932 Jacob S. Coxey, 1952 Douglas MacArthur, 1968 Eugene Mc Carthy, 1980 John B. Anderson, 1984 Lyndon LaRouche, 1988 David Duke, 1992 Lenora Fulani and Lyndon LaRouche, 2008 Ron Paul and Alan Keyes, 2012 Gary Johnson. Gary Johnson himself ran in eight Republican presidential primaries in 2012. Only Michigan in 2012 decided to interpret its “sore loser” law to apply to presidential primaries. And even Michigan itself admits that its sore loser law doesn’t apply to independent presidential candidates, thus implicitly acknowledging that it has no strong interest in the restriction it imposed on Johnson. Also, in 1980, Michigan interpreted the same law to not apply to presidential primaries, and let John Anderson on the November ballot as a minor party candidate even though he had run in the 1980 Michigan Republican primary. The courts, so far in this case, have not grappled with these points.
Glad Gary is still working on behalf of the LP.
William Howard Taft was kept off the California general election ballot in 1912.
#2, William Howard Taft kept himself off the November ballot. The independent petition deadline was 40 days before the general election, but he chose not to try to petition. Anyway, his case had nothing to do with presidential primaries or sore loser laws. The California Republican Party chose Theodore Roosevelt as its presidential nominee. Similarly, in 1964 the Alabama Democratic Party chose unpledged presidential electors, and Lyndon Johnson didn’t appear on the November ballot. Johnson couldn’t petition as an independent because there was a May deadline for filing a declaration of candidacy as an independent.
The ENTIRE system is rotted to its EVIL gerrymander core since 1776/1789 –
Congress, electoral college, state legislatures.
NO robot party hack primaries, caucuses, conventions
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P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
@3 Richard, in Alabama in 1968 don’t you mean Hubert Humphrey?
#5, thank you. I meant Lyndon Johnson but I meant to say 1964, not 1968. Humphrey did get on the Alabama November ballot as a minor party nominee.
#3 The primary which chose the delegates to the Republican state convention which chose the Roosevelt-Johnson electors was in September. You’re saying Taft should have anticipated losing the primary and started gathering signatures.