On August 9, the West Virginia Constitution Party and its nominee for U.S. Senate, Don Blankenship, asked the West Virginia Supreme Court to put Blankenship on the November ballot. Blankenship v Warner, 18-0712. This news story includes a link to the brief. Thanks to Jeff Becker for the link. UPDATE: here is the brief.
Predictit stock prices are already reacting to this news: https://www.predictit.org/Contract/10774/Will-Don-Blankenship-be-on-the-2018-West-Virginia-Senate-general-election-ballot#data
Here is the link to the actual brief filing: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4705197-Blaneknship-Writ-of-Mandamus-Petition.html
Yes, Documentcloud spelled Don’s name wrong. That is the correct URL.
The fundamental problem is that West Virginia provides multiple paths to the ballot. If all candidates have the same path (e.g. supporters of candidate show up to indicate support of a candidate this is eliminated). The support level might be 1/10 of 1% of active electorate, which in West Virginia would be around 700 voters. For a statewide office, the voters might appear at their county courthouse. There could be appointments made.
Groups of voters could organize as political parties or an ad hoc basis to support a candidate. Political parties would be free to recruit candidates, assist them in getting supporters to courthouses, and provide support in election campaigns.
If no candidate receives a majority of the vote, there would be a runoff.
The brief has the now routine perversions of the 1 Amdt and *due process* —
BUT does raise equal protection.
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Ballot access only via equal nominating petitions or filing fees.
PR and AppV
Demo Rep, To what “perversions” of the First Amendment are you referring? I see none at all. It is a most excellent and well done brief.
Jim Riley, You want voters to show up at the county courthouses? They already do that in West Virginia. It is called early voting (which I don’t agree with), but the turnout is quite a bit higher than your predictions: 68,391 here just for a primary https://www.wvgazettemail.com/election_2018/legislature_2018/statewide-early-voting-up-percent-from-last-off-year-primary/article_4abd57ca-0c54-57f5-9e4a-d3bb8d28b8cf.html
@Jeff Becker,
In Zambia, instead of nominating petitions, supporters of candidates come to the national electoral agency. Political parties use these as a sort of rally, perhaps with voters being bused in. If this were implemented in West Virginia, you could have everyone drive to Charleston. But it might be easier to have the supporters show up at the county courthouses. The candidate would make an appointment. The process would be like checking in when you vote.
Zambia, eh? I’ll help you pack your bags.
The 1st Amdt has ZERO to do with *election mechanics* —
definition of elector-voter, definition of officer qualifications, ballot access, voting, counting votes, taking office.
See the book – Sources of Our Liberties (1959) — before the Donkey communists on SCOTUS went NUTS in the 1960s.
Press-speech-petition stuff in 1 Amdt is connected to the tyranny press-speech-petition stuff by rotted Brits leading up to 4 July 1776 DOI — see 1776-1789 State Consts / Bills of Rights — multiple Press-Speech-Petition sections.
The 1789 Congress had copies of such documents and the 1787-1788 demands of the State legislatures and State Art VII ratifying conventions — to LIMIT the powers of the USA regime.
IE SCOTUS perverting constitutional language in one legal subject area to apply to all other legal subject areas — akin to the SCOTUS perversion of *due process* in 14-1 for about 70 years — 1870-1940.
IE — the partisan SCOTUS HACKS being a supreme legislative body and/or a supreme executive body with veto powers.
Major ROT started with Lincoln-Grant SCOTUS super-partisan robot HACKS in 1861-1877 — destruction of the States — ALL powers in the USA gerrymander regime of oligarchs — esp. via the perversions of the interstate commerce clause and later the general welfare clause in 1-8.
Result – 2018 States are almost DEAD — mere transfer agents for Fed cash to special interest gangs.
Separate perversions regarding 14-1 and 14-5.
See Sec. 1 of the 1866 Civil Rights Act [before 14 Amdt proposed] – later re-enacted after 14 Amdt was declared ratified — esp regarding the EPC in 14-1 — the State defining a *civil* right for a class – the Congress requiring such *civil* right to apply to another class.
Political *rights* quite separate — being an Elector or public officer.
The SCOTUS ROT has been accumulating — esp since 1861 — a mere 157 years — one rotted case after another building on earlier rotted cases.
Once in a long while the SCOTUS MORONS detect the problem — see the 1938 Erie RR case – overruling dozens of cases going back to 1842 — NO such thing as *federal common law*.
Federal common law type PERVERSIONS of the 1 Amdt and *due process* in the 5 and 14-1 Amdts.
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PR and AppV