North Carolina holds primaries in May for parties that have been on the ballot for at least four years. Newly-qualifying parties submit petitions after the primary, and nominate by convention. On June 5, the legislature passed an omnibus election law bill that says newly-qualifying parties may not nominate anyone who had lost another party’s primary earlier that year. The bill, SB 486, passed the House 66-44 and the Senate 30-12.
The part of the bill concerning “sore losers” was prompted by news reports that several candidates who lost major party primaries this year were thinking about seeking the Constitution Party nomination, or the Green Party nomination, this month. The part of SB 486 on “sore losers” is section 3.4 of the bill, amending election law section 163A-953.
What gerrymander regimes do NOT have *sore loser* laws ???
Will this affect candidates this year, since it was passed AFTER the primaries and would in effect be an “ex post facto” law?
Ex post facto stuff only applies to criminal stuff — due to SCOTUS.
@Brandon Lyon,
The effect is prospective. The new parties can not nominate certain persons in the future. If the parties had already made the nominations, there could be a problem.
Thanks on your marvelous posting! I truly enjoyed reading it, you’re a great
author. I will ensure that I bookmark your blog and will eventually come back at some point.
I want to encourage continue your great posts, have
a nice holiday weekend!