Only Libertarians have to follow the rules

shanek

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http://www.lowcountrynow.com/stories/100704/LOCliberterian.shtml

If an obscure state election law were strictly followed, there would be only one party on the ballot for Nov. 2's general election - the Libertarians.

The Democrats and Republicans should have registered with the local clerk of court, according to a little-known state law, and because they haven't, the Jasper County Libertarian Party should be the only player on the ballot. Or, so says county party Chairman Michael Edward Jones.

Jones says in a letter to county Board of Elections members that his is the only party to "file paperwork with the clerk of court ... thus it follows that, in partisan elections, only Libertarians may be listed on the ballot."

Believe it or not, this is true, Garry Baum, the state Election Commission's chief public information and training officer, said Wednesday.
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State election law reads in part, "All (political party) officers except delegates shall be reported to the clerk of court of the county and to the secretary of state prior to the election. The reports shall be public record."

Jasper Clerk of Court Margaret Bostick confirmed that only the Libertarian Party has registered with her office.

Jones also complained to the Board of Elections that the Libertarians were not notified or invited to Monday's voting machine programming, as required by law.

"I was not invited to nor informed of this viewing," he said. "I was therefore unable to verify the accuracy or veracity of any Libertarian candidates listed, or even of their existence on the ballot for Jasper County in the upcoming general election."
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I've seen Libertarians kicked off the ballot for far more pedantic reasons than this. I guess the Demopublicans feel the law just doesn't apply to them...
 
Shame on you shane...Its evil gibmint regulations. You should be able to stand for election by simply writing your name on the ballot paper and ticking next to it. Or better still, everyone in the entire country is up for elections and each voter has to number the phonebook in the order of thier voting preference. Or maybe we could give out scratch tickets where one reveals "congratulations you are the President elect!"


Anyway, on a slightly serious not. Do you think it would be a good Idea to present voters with a single candidate?
 
Do you think it would be a good Idea to present voters with a single candidate?
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Clearly it would bad for the voters in the short run but it might be good in the long run. It might cause the laws to stop favoring the two dominant parties and allow real democracy to take place.

Also, there is such a thing a precedence. If the state or county has upheld ridiculous laws in the past, they need to uphold it this time as well. If flexibility has been allowed in past, then it should be allowed in this case.

BTW, the voters can always write in their choices.

CBL
 
Do you think it would be a good Idea to present voters with a single candidate?
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Always the option of a write in.

Come to think of it, wouldn't that be a great solution? No canidate on the voting sheet whatsoever? It deals in part with the "idiot" factor, as well as all this nonsense.
 
Otther said:
Always the option of a write in.
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Can you do that with voting machines?

Also, is there an option for spoiling the ballot (should you wish to), or do they force you to actually vote for a listed candidate?
 
Can you do that [write ins] with voting machines?
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I believe there is always the option of writing a name in and putting it in a ballot box. I did a quick search and the Sequoia Voting Systems web page says:
ELECTRONIC WRITE-INS
Eliminates interpreting voter intent. Write-in votes are recorded electronically and stored redundantly in the AVC Advantage in the Cartridge. The write-in votes are transferred automatically to the central system, the Election Database System. The write-in votes for the jurisdiction may then be printed by contest for recounts.
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http://www.sequoiavote.com/bAVCAdvantage.php

I am not sure what this means but they do both optical and touch screen voting machines.

The one time I worked as election volunteer, we were trained to advise people about this. I cannot remember the training but I remember being trained.

CBL
 
The Fool said:
Shame on you shane...Its evil gibmint regulations.
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The thing is, I love equal protection under the law more than I hate government regulations. It's bad enough that they can pass whatever bad laws they want; it's even worse that they can exempt themselves from having to obey them.

You should be able to stand for election by simply writing your name on the ballot paper and ticking next to it.
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That was actually how it was done until about 100 years ago. The governmet didn't even print any ballots until the very late 19th Century.

Do you think it would be a good Idea to present voters with a single candidate?
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No, I don't. And the effect of these very election laws is to do just that. Several districts in NC only have one candidate, and most of the rest would too were it not for a Libertarian challenger. This isn't about being the only ones; this is about making the law apply to the Demopublicans, too. If they had to obey them, too, they'd be less likely to pass them and more likely to repeal them.
 
There's a charmingly down-home flavour to the Lowcountry piece. You wonder what the "operator errors" were, if they existed at all? "Bill took the course, but he's not in today." "Where's the manual?" "Bill's got it." "Oh. Well, let's see how we get on."

shanek: you don't link to a transcript of Chairman Jones's letter. In context, is he trying to have the law imposed as an object-lesson, or is he simply publicising it as an example of over-regulation? I also wonder whether the law was enacted with a view to keeping ... you know ... the wrong sort of people off the ballot. A nation-wide purge of such legislation might be a good policy to take on (if you haven't already).
 
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