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Monday, September 01, 2008

Bob Barr vs. Texas GOP and Dems: The saga continues

We reported on Bob Barr being the only candidate to submit his paperwork on time to be on the Texas ballot last Wednesday. Then we reported on the Texas Secretary of State "finding" the Democratic and Republican paperwork "upon further checking." We also covered the Barr camps response to this "upon-further-checking-discovery." Now we can mention a few legal precedents that might get the Democrats and Republicans on the ballot, in spite of the technical legal requirements.

According to Ballot Access News:

"Although that it seems undisputed that both the Republican and Democratic Parties missed the August 26 Texas deadline for filing a certificate naming their presidential and vice-presidential nominees, there are two Texas Supreme Court decisions that say that candidates should not suffer the loss of ballot access due to the mistakes of state party officials. The cases are Davis v Taylor, 930 SW 2d 581, and Bird v Rothstein, 930 SW 2d 586. The first case put a Republican nominee for State Court of Appeals Justice on the November ballot; the second one put a Democratic nominee for state house on the November ballot."

The Barr campaign, quoted in Independent Political Report, thinks the two major parties will get exceptions that put them "above the law":

"In Texas, we have a clear deadline that was not met by the Republicans and Democrats, but it is all but certain that some way, some how, the establishment candidates will find a way on the ballot. Some people are just above the law."

There's reason to think the Barr campaign is right. While there are legal precedents that permit Democrats and Republicans from getting on the ballot in spite of technically violating the law on filing paperwork on time, other parties have no such precedents to lean on. Again according to Ballot Access News:

"In 2004, Ralph Nader submitted his independent presidential petition two weeks late. He submitted it on the more lenient deadline for minor party petitions, but the federal courts upheld the earlier deadline and kept Nader off the ballot."

Double standard? Sounds like it.

Posted by P.M. Jaworski on September 1, 2008 in International Politics | Permalink

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Posted by: nader paul kucinich gravel | 2008-09-02 6:46:44 AM

HAHAHAHA!

A poster who's obscurity equals that of Bob Who.

Posted by: epsilon | 2008-09-02 9:07:08 AM

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