Evan McMullin addressed the public on the evening of October 5, in the Provo public library. See this story at Independent Political Report. IPR reporter Joseph Buchman was in the audience. Buchman hoped to be able to ask MuMullin some questions, but McMullin did not take questions from the audience.
One question that McMullin has not answered is why he didn’t file any constitutional ballot access cases. When he announced his campaign on August 8, he had said he would do that. He had very strong potential lawsuits against Wyoming and Florida, states which kept him off the ballot even though he satisfied the requirements.
I know that McMullin turned in petition signatures in Wyoming, but I thought that the validity on them was low enough to where he did not have enough good ones to qualify for the ballot in that state.
He worked for the CIA. So he used to talking to folks, not listening to the little folks.
Because McMullin and the people who put him up as a candidate support the two-party system. They have no desire to make ballot-access easier in any way that may help third parties and independent candidates. Given the dislike of Trump among many of the Republican Party establishment, I would not be surprised if McMullin’s backers have not already convinced some Republican electors to be “faithless” electors and cast their electoral votes for McMullin or possibly someone else! in states where it looks like Trump will win the popular vote. Unlike jurors in a trial there is no prohibition to talking to presidential electors about how they might vote and try to get them to change their vote. If no candidate gets the 270 electoral votes, those few votes McMullin (or someone else) gets will be powerful bargaining chips. I would not be surprised if the McMullin backers are trying to get at least 6 “faithless” electors just in case Gary Johnson does pull it off and get NM’s 5 electoral votes. That way McMullin backer can deny Gary the third place in terms of electoral votes which ensures Gary cannot be considered as a potential presidential pick if the presidential selection winds up going to the House of Reps.
OK, taking off my tin-foil hat now. 😉
Does McMullin actually have a running mate?
He says he will announce his v-p in a few days.
In Wyoming, McMullin would have had enough signatures, except too many of his signers had already signed for Jill Stein or Rocky De La Fuente. Wyoming petitions ask signers to put down a date next to their signature. So the state could theoretically decide which signature is valid by giving it to the presidential candidate who was the first to get that voter’s signature. But that is work, and Wyoming doesn’t do that. Instead they credit that signature to the group that turns in its petition first. McMullin turned his petitions in after Jill Stein and Rocky De La Fuente turned in theirs. The state’s practice has been held unconstitutional in a few other states, including California. It violates due process. Wyoming should either repeal its ban on voters signing for two independents for the same office, or at least start giving the signature to the candidate who got the signature first.
It could be the money is not there for lawsuits.
If a candidate files a ballot access lawsuit in federal court and wins, then the state government must pay the attorney fees. Most ballot access attorneys, if they expect to win, therefore will take a case for free or for very little money.
If every ballot access plaintiff had to have thousands of dollars to pay an attorney, we would virtually never get a win, because the cases wouldn’t get filed.
How about getting some lawyers to demand $$$$$$ DAMAGES to bankrupt ALL of the devil robot party hacks (legislative, executive and judicial) who violate RIGHTS — constitutional and statutory ???
The CRISIS is N-O-W — the EVIL incumbent MONARCH/OLIGARCHY class controlled by the various special interest gangsters versus the People — i.e. the New Age Tax Slaves.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.