The Georgia Republican Party holds a state convention June 9-10. A group of Republican activists is pushing to persuade the convention to change the rules for Republican primary ballot access. The proposal would say that no one can run in a Republican primary who has not received support from the state convention in advance of the primary.

In 1996, the Eleventh Circuit ruled in Duke v Cleland, 87 F 3d 1226, that the Georgia Republican Party has a freedom of association right to exclude anyone it wishes from its presidential primary ballot. The Georgia Republican Party thus won the right to exclude David Duke from the 1992 primary, and ever since no one can get on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Georgia without the permission of the party leadership. So it seems if this proposed rule passes, it would withstand a court attack. Already Alabama allows parties to exclude any candidates from their primary ballots, for any reason. Alabama is also in the Eleventh Circuit.

The Eleventh Circuit said in Duke v Cleland, “Duke’s supporters were not foreclosed from supporting him as an independent candidate, or a third-party candidate, in the general election.”

The Georgia rules change is promoted by the Georgia Republican Assembly, a group within the party that does not support Republican Party officials such as Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The proposal needs to be approved by the state party Rules Committee before it can get a vote at the state convention.