Louisiana’s filing deadline for presidential candidates and candidates for presidential elector to file was September 2. However, because of severe flooding in Baton Rouge, and power outages, the office had seemed to indicate that the deadline would be extended. However, on September 9, the Secretary of State indicated he would not accept late filings. As a result, Bob Barr (Libertarian), Brian Moore (Socialist), and Ted Weill (Reform Party) are off the ballot. This is especially ironic in the case of Barr and Weill, since the Libertarian and Reform Parties are ballot-qualified. At least one of these campaigns has already found an attorney to try to resolve the situation. Louisiana has no real state interest whatsoever in being rigid on the deadline, because the state hasn’t held its congressional primary yet. Furthermore, since no petition is needed, there are no signatures to check.
In Mississippi, the State Board of Elections met on September 9 and disallowed the Natural Law Party’s filing of Brian Moore for president, because certain papers had not been submitted until 5:10 p.m. The office had previously said the true deadline was midnight, and that there was no cause for concern. The Board also said that the party state chair, who also functioned as the secretary of the meeting that nominated Moore, should have signed two different forms instead of just one form. The Board also disallowed the petitions for Gene Amondson as an independent candidate (he is the Prohibition Party nominee), because it said some of his petitions were submitted late.
