Posted on 09/23/2008 1:39:55 PM PDT by jasonmyos
AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline)-The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a petition to remove the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees from the statewide ballot.
Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr and the Libertarian Party of Texas argued that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain should not be on the ballot because their respective parties failed to file with the state by Aug. 26.
The high court denied the petition without offering explanation.
(Excerpt) Read more at legalnewsline.com ...
When is the Libertarian party going to learn that the law doesn’t apply to the Republicrats? They will always get away with any violation of the election laws in any state because they run the states.
When are third party nut jobs going to learn you can’t use archaic laws to disenfranchise Texans. All of them.
Take the 9/11 is an inside job nonsense to a forum that gives a damn.
Barr can’t win on his own so he resorts to legal tricks to take the cheap way out. aint gonna fly
Did you read the article? Let me help you by underling it. Are you ready?
"argued that Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama and Republican nominee John McCain should not be on the ballot"
Were you able to read it?
Did you actually read my post?
Barr is an idiot. The DNC + GOP DID file the proper paperwork. If you reply with any snarky, I will dispatch a black helicopter to pick you up and transport you to a re-education kamp.
So trying to enforce the law is a legal trick? Whenever the Republicrats miss some legal deadline it's always "Don't worry, you'll be on the ballot." But the states are very good at enforcing the election laws to keep the minor parties off the ballots. Was it Kerry or Gore who had his people all over the states trying to find anything in the laws to keep Nader off the ballots? IIRC, they succeeded in a couple places. Yet the same doesn't apply to the Republicrats, they're guaranteed a place on the ballot no matter what.
You'll get no disagreement from me there. I can't stand him. But individuals are irrelevant when talking about principle.
The DNC + GOP DID file the proper paperwork
They filed something, but they had yet to nominate their candidates at the time and the law requires they file the candidates names. Meanwhile, over in LA and MA, the Libertarians had to go to court just to be on the ballot. There's one election system for the Republicrats, another for the rest of the parties.
Ashley Burton, a spokesperson for the Texas Secretary of State’s office, responded at that time, saying, “Both parties made filings with our office before the deadline, supplemented their filings and will be on the November ballot.” SOURCE.
That, I would guess, is why the suit was thrown out.
You only have to obey the filing rules if you are of a 3rd party. The Repubs and Rats get a free pass to do as they wish.
Here in Arkansas - to get on the ballot as a 3rd party, you have to get petitions signed by a large number of registered voters and pay a relatively large fee to get on the ballot. No petition required for Dems and Repubs...
Think of it as layaway - you put money down to hold an item, then you pay for it and pick it up later. That's similar to what the two parties did in TX.
The law clearly states that the parties have to file their candidates names by that date, and The Party(tm) did not do it. Fact. They should not be on the ballot, and their inclusion is clearly illegal. Of course, it is also clear that these laws only apply to those not registered with The Party(tm).
Both the Dems and GOP filed before the 08/26 deadline.
No, actually, they did not. This is clear from the words in the law itself:
“A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and vice-president placed on the ballot if before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before presidential election day, the party’s state chair signs and delivers to the secretary of state a written certification of the name’s of the party’s nominees for president and vice-president.”
Notice, it says "the names of its nominees" and the Republicrats did not do this. It did not say file your party, and then give names later. It said names. And we know that the names were not given since they had no nominees yet.
Do you think for a moment that if the Libertarian Party had filed and said "We'll fill in the blanks for the candidates later" that they would have a place on the ballot? Not a chance. The appropriate part of the election code:
§ 192.031. ... A political party is entitled to have the names of its nominees for president and vice-president of the United States placed on the ballot in a presidential general election if:
...(2) before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before presidential election day, the party's state chair signs and delivers to the secretary of state a written certification of:
(A) the names of the party's nominees for president and vice-president
The must provide the names by the deadline, not just file some paperwork. So either the conventions were a sham and the parties had already certified their candidates in Texas, or the Republicrats did not meet the qualifications to have their candidates on the Texas ballot.
I can see why the Texas Supreme Court denied the suit without comment, because otherwise they'd have to explain allowing such a violation of the election laws.
I would like to see where the law allows for amended filings. Oops, it doesn't. It requires the names to be certified up front, no wiggle room.
The Texas Attorney General seems to disagree with you. And so did the judge.
Both McCain and Obama got on the ballot legally.
No. I will not elaborate.
The Texas attorney general and all the court justices are, oh what a coincidence, Republicans. Like I said, the Republicrats run the states, so of course the laws won't have to apply to the Republicrat party. But they're sure strictly enforced against all other parties.
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