On July 29, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a U.S. District Court opinion in Libertarian Party v Husted, 16-3537. This means that the Ohio Libertarian Party won’t be on the ballot as a party this year, unless possibly it wins its pending case in the State Appeals Court.
The decision says that the individuals who conspired to keep the party’s gubernatorial nominee off the party’s primary ballot were not state actors. It upholds the law that says newly-qualifying parties are not entitled to their own primary election.
As to the party’s argument that the State Constitution requires that all parties must nominate by primary, the Sixth Circuit said that is a decision for Ohio state court. That issue is still pending in a case that is also called Libertarian Party of Ohio.
Gary Johnson is circulating the petition to be on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate. The deadline for that petition is August 10. That requirement is 5,000 signatures.
What century before ANY third party or independent gets ANY lawyer with ANY brain cells regarding —
1. Every election is NEW.
2. Equal ballot access tests for ALL candidates for the SAME office in the SAME area.
Until then, there will be these nonstop JUNK cases with JUNK opinions by the robot party hack judges – esp. USA Fed judges — who are ALL robot party hacks due to the EVIL rotted appointment system – by HACK Presidents with approval by the super HACKS in the USA gerrymander Senate.
The concept that parties should be on the ballot automatically if they performed well in the previous election is deeply rooted in state ballot access law in the U.S. The states started defining “political party” that way in the 1890’s. It is true that most countries don’t do that. Most countries require a party or a candidate to qualify newly, and every candidate has the same ballot access barriers. For instance in Great Britain a candidate for House of Commons needs 10 signatures and 500 pounds. It doesn’t matter which party the candidate is affiliated with.
So from an international point of view, Demo Rep has a good point. But unfortunately the world tradition is absent in the United States.
Nuts! Well I hope the Ohio L.P. is close to the 5,000 mark in the signature gathering efforts for that option…
Uh, what’s the latest on getting Johnson on as a independent, Richard?
The petition is still being circulated but is likely to succeed.
There is a real constitutional problem with the Ohio ballot access law for new parties, which the 6th circuit did not address. The US Supreme Court said in Democratic Party of California v Jones in 2000 that states cannot require qualified parties to let non-members help choose their nominees. If the Libertarian Party submits a petition in 2017 for party status, the law says that the party is ballot-qualified. But, that relatively new and untested law also says that the nominees need their own petitions of 50 signatures (for statewide office). Suppose two Libertarians running for the same office each submit candidate petitions? It is not clear to me who decides which one goes on the ballot as the Libertarian “nominee.” In addition, requiring a qualified party to let non-members help choose its nominees violates Democratic Party of California v Jones. The reason the Ohio legislature put the candidate petitions into the law is to try to satisfy the Ohio Constitution, which says all parties nominate by primary, but that candidates can also get on the ballot by petition. Obviously the Constitution was written to encompass independent candidates, but the legislature added the minor party nominee petitions to try to make it appear that the Constitution is being followed.
Ok, I understand.
Why do you think that ORC 3517.012(C) is not clear?
It is a requirement of the party formation petition that there be a three to five member committee that represents the party.
The committee will be informed of any candidates whose petitions have sufficient signatures under 3517.012(B). The committee shall certify the slate of candidates. The committee may not certify more candidates than may be elected for an office, and an uncertified petition will not constitute nomination. So clearly the activity of the committee is more than clerical.
A person may not sign a Libertarian nomination petition if they have voted in the primary of another party in the previous two years. In a state without party registration, signing a petition in essence constitutes affiliation. ‘Jones’ does not apply.
Ohio nominates some candidates for non-partisan offices by primary. Ohio could use Top 2 primaries for partisan offices. It is apparent that the constitution is being followed. The only persons that it is not apparent to are those who have inserted words into the constitution that do actually appear in the constitution.
Wow Mr Winger I have never been able to understand anything Demo Rep has ever said. I salute you for deciphering the insane gibberish spewed from an obviously deeply disturbed individual.
Demo Rep is a very well-informed and very intelligent individual, and he is frequently the source of news for me. He does have an unusual way of expressing himself.
The Ohio Constitution says: Article V, section 7. “All nominations for elective state, district, county and municipal offices shall be made at direct primary elections or by petition as provided by law.”
Either the Libertarian Party would be nominating Libertarians, or the signers of the government-imposed petitions would be nominating them. But if the Libertarian Party is doing the nominating, what is the function of the candidate petitions? And if the candidate petitions are doing the nominating, Jones certainly does apply, because the party is being forced to let non-members help choose its nominees.
Why do you think states began providing for ballot access for political parties soon after the Australian Ballot was adopted?
“as provided by law” applies to both “direct primary elections OR by petition”
Persons who have not voted in the primary of another party and sign a petition for a candidate seeking to be placed on the ballot as the nominee of the Libertarian Party are Libertarians in the sense used in states that do not maintain public records of the political beliefs of its citizens.
Remember that ‘Jones’ was applied to Washington state, where there were no records of party affiliation.
Could you prove in a legal sense that non-Libertarians had signed a candidate petition? If someone had voted in the Republican or Democratic primary their signature would not be counted.
Ohio does not require the Libertarian Party committee to certify any candidate as a member of its party slate.
It would of course be better if Ohio were to adopt Top 2. The fundamental problem is that ballot access is through affiliation with parties, rather than candidate based.
Top 2 is a very bad system which severely weakens alternate parties and independent candidates.
3. Also – Separate is NOT equal. Brown v. Bd of Ed 1954 – a mere 14 years before the MORON opinion in Williams v. Rhodes in 1968.
SCOTUS has been overruling its earlier JUNK cases for a LONG time.
See the Constitution Annotated — a LONG table of OVER-RULED cases at the end.
The SCOTUS morons did not detect in the 2000 CA Jones case that a sovereign State may by LAW say how PUBLIC electors do PUBLIC nominations of PUBLIC candidates for PUBLIC office — i.e. SOME Electors with or without other Electors (closed/open primaries) OR ALL Electors (i.e. in top 2 primary regimes).
The SCOTUS robot party hacks have NO brains so their JUNK opinions have NO logic — just more and more party hack JUNK.
Thus – NO sanity and logic in ballot access cases until ALL of cases connected with Williams v. Rhodes get OVER-RULED — hopefully before Civil WAR II starts due to the EVIL brains/mouths of Clinton and Trump.
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NO primaries.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
http://www.13abc.com/content/news/Federal-appeals-court-rejects-Ohio-Libertarians-challenge-388721122.html
http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2016/07/appeals_court_tosses_ohio_libe.html