Wednesday, September 17, 2008
UPDATED: Texas Supreme Court rejects Bob Barr’s attempt to keep Obama, McCain off Texas ballot
Updated 12:34 p.m., September 24, 2008
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Bob Barr
Libertarian presidential nominee Bob Barr has sued the Texas Secretary of State in an attempt to have the names of John McCain and Barack Obama removed from the November ballot in Texas.
Barr claims that the lawsuit, which he filed yesterday, is filed because the major party nominees missed the official filing deadline to be on the November 4 ballot.
Barr’s campaign is arguing that because neither of the candidates had been officially nominated by their parties by the official filing deadline then it was impossible for the candidates to file under state law.
Randall Dillard, a spokesman for the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, told The Associated Press the ballot was certified on Sept. 3.
“We are confident that the ballot was certified properly and that Texans will have the opportunity to select the qualified candidate of their choice,” Dillard said.
He said the ballot includes presidential candidates nominated by the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian parties as well as declared write-in candidates.
At issue here is the semi-sticky situation that, because the nominees weren’t chosen (or at least, vice presidents weren’t chosen) before the deadline, they are not eligible for the ballot. However, previous reports have shown that both parties took steps to make sure their places were reserved on the ballot, either by filing the name of the Presidential candidate sans the vice president or something else.
Expect this lawsuit to go nowhere, although it might cause the legislature to get a bit of a reprimand and be told to fix it next go around.
UPDATE: Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court rejected Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr’s lawsuit seeking to toss Barack Obama and John McCain from the general election ballot in Texas. Barr claimed that the candidates weren’t officially named nominees by their parties prior to a statutory deadline for submitting their names for the ballot to the Texas Secretary of State.
Drew Shirley, Barr’s attorney, issued the following statement on the ruling:
Obviously, I’m disappointed for a couple of reasons. I think it’s clear that the Secretary of State broke the law by certifying the late nominations of both parties, so I’m disappointed that the petition was denied. I’m also disappointed that the Supreme Court declined to hear oral arguments or even issue an opinion explaining their ruling, so now we’ll never know what convoluted reasoning they used to deny the petition. To paraphrase Ben Bradlee, we may have lost, but that doesn’t mean we were wrong.
No word yet on whether or not Barr will appeal.
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Comments
Jason Rice Verified
Oh good heavens!!! Yay!! a valid "No" vote.
I may be turning Libertarian any minute now.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
John Meyer Staff
Welcome to the Dark Side, Jason. It's quiet here. (Not to mention uncrowded.)
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Collin Gouldin Verified
If this actually goes through, it would pretty much only hurt McCain.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
David Gouldin Staff
John P. Meyer and I will be there to welcome you.
They're some smart folks.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
::smart folks
Well, since all the vending machines in my building outsmart our current choices, I'm thinking the contrast would be easy.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Andrew Laska Verified
Does anyone find it ironic that a "libertarian" is trying to restrict ballot choices?
I leave you this for your enjoyment. http://www.dallasobserver.com/content...
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
I'm not sure I would label folks who are using donations to file a lawsuit that has zero chance of winning as "smart".
For a party that has limited access to funding I think they should pick and choose their battles a bit more carefully.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
David Gouldin Staff
I dunno, the election code sounds pretty clear to me. I don't think we're going to be able to find firsthand sources online for when McCain and Obama officially certified, so we'll have to trust the Bob Barr's letter.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
Hey - x*x, they got my attention. I'll bet the suit costs less than the 2 minute and the 30 second slots airing tonight. ;o)
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
xdavidwattsx Anonymous
Depends on if you're airing them during the same time slots that air the 1-900 sex commercials.
1-900-BOB-BARR?
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Chris Kidd Verified
Bob Barr is no libertarian, he's a neocon nutjob who goes against everything the libertatians stand for (less government/personal freedom,ect..)
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
David Gouldin Staff
For any interested, the caselaw cited is in the 3rd to last paragraph.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
John McClelland Verified
The interesting point here is that the Electoral College voters do not have to vote for who wins the popular vote. They just have traditionally done so.
So even if Barr won Texas, they could easily snub him and cast their vote for either Obama or McCain.
If they choose to uphold the vote, and give Barr the Texas votes, then neither Obama nor McCain would get a 270 vote majority. When that happens, the vote goes to the US House with each state delegation getting 1 vote. The VP vote goes to the US Senate.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
klue Anonymous
this is awesome! Imagine... people might be forced to actually learn a little bit about some OTHER political parties before they vote. Nah, who am I kidding, they'll probably still just right in their 2-party-system guy.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Jason Rice Verified
John --- OOOOHH so we could technically get a split White House.
I think those two permutations are the only worse choices we could possible muster than the train wreck we have.
We're doomed.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
DC Anonymous
I think this fellow needs to have a friendly introduction between Mr. Head and Ms. Toilet Bowl.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Kevin Kunreuther Verified
Why I left the Libertarian Party after the 1988 election - disorganized, no aggressive fund raising tactics of any kind and the image. If the Libs could ever get their collective act together, they could seriously supplant or at very least hinder current evil that passes itself off as the Republican Party in the Northeast and the West. What happened was in 1964, old time Dixiecrats bolted to the Republicans when Johnson introduced the New Society and joined forces with Goldwater Republicans and eventually infected and took over the GOP. Libertarians need to Madison Avenue up their image, organize themselves and their fundraising tactics, and aggressively get the media and public to take them seriously. Otherwise, pack up the tents and call it a day.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
Howard Wen Verified
If a crazy series of events actually unfold in the courts, and the two major party candidates are ordered removed from the ballot, then the McCain and Obama campaigns will shift to Plan B -- airing radio and TV ads to instruct their supporters to write in the name of their candidate.
This would turn out to be a problem for the McCain campaign, I think. They would have to spend additional money campaigning in a state that they were originally guaranteed to win anyway -- a red state with a lot of electoral votes. It would likely turn Texas into a battleground state; Obama would probably have a really good chance of winning Texas under such a write-in requirement for both candidates.
1 year, 1 month ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )
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