Topic: Bob Barr
Barr Gets Smacked Down Again! Man, this election year has REALLY shown how the two-party system strangles third parties...by RS Davis
(libertarian)
Friday, October 24, 2008
Back on October 1st, Ballot Access News reported that the state of Connecticut had taken Bob Barr's name off the ballot. They claimed that the petition, which needed to have 7,500 signatures, was 280 short.
The Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit, saying that not only were 209 signatures improperly invalidated, but that the state actually lost 116 of the petition pages.
Well, this morning, the news came down that U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall denied their lawsuit. Was it because the Libertarian Party was wrong? No, according to the judge, it was because forcing the election commission to change the ballots two weeks before the election would put undue hardship on them, forcing them to "reprint 2 million ballots, reprogram computers and distribute 883 different kinds of forms and computer cards to the state's 169 towns and cities," reportsThe Hartford Courant.
Excuse me?
Making the election commission get it right is an undue hardship, but leaving someone off the ballot who met all the legal requirements to be there is a nice foot rub?
"Nothing before the court explains why they waited until 4 p.m. Oct. 17 to file their motion," said Judge Hall. "The court was available. If I had a motion, I could have acted sooner."
Libertarian Party official Andrew Rule, said they took the time to independently verify every name that was excluded so his case would be unimpeachable, preventing the opposition from "cooking" him on the stand: "I did not want to put my name on something unless I was certain it was correct."
This in the wake of the Texas ruling that put McCain and Obama back on the ballot even though they clearly had not met the requirements to be there, and the Louisiana case that left Barr off the ballot because Hurricaine Gustav closed state offices in Baton Rouge the last week of filing.
There is a complete double standard at work here, where GOP and Democratic candidates are allowed to do whatever they want and they still get ballot access - regardless of the law - while third parties have to jump through hoops, all while election officials actively work to keep them off ballots, whether they meet the requirements or not.
When third parties petition the courts for a redress of grievances, they either make up lame excuses to circumvent the law, or they just deny the petitions with no explanation. In tyranny, hubris dictates that they don't need to.
Unless we stand up for what is right. Will you?
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More on this issue:
3rd Parties Get No Respect Published: October 9, 2008 Barr left off the Louisiana ballot. Nice double-standard, there.
Obama/Barr '08 Published: September 30, 2008 Strange bedfellows could make for some interesting politics.
Why Bob Barr Is Right Published: September 26, 2008 Inside the Texas Election Code, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Tyranny.
Barr Gets Smacked Down Published: September 25, 2008 The Texas Supreme Court makes a decision about Obama and McCain's right to be on the ballot after missing the deadline.
Barr Finally Fights For Texas Published: September 19, 2008 Obama and McCain didn't file in time to be included on the Texas ballot, and Bob Barr is trying to make sure they aren't.
Barr Fights for Texas Published: September 2, 2008 This battle could mean big things for the Libertarian Party
The views expressed in this
article are those of RS Davis only and do not represent
the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. RS Davis is
solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an
employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
Yes , However, The Barr campaign should have made photocopies and taken additional steps prior to handing in the petitions.
There is no excuse for the Barr campaign making only 45 ballots. Even Badnarik with less money raised and being a nobody was able to manage ballot access in a more effective way.
This is just another mistake in a long line of mistakes for Barr. This coupled with him not wanting to debate yesterday which is so UN- Libertarian will cost him dearly.
what a shame.
In particular I'd like to draw your attention to Richard Winger's comments 11 and 20, and comment 22. They may be useful if you are planning a follow-up.
No, but I'll be watching BAN in the hope that citizen1 posts on it later.
Interesting proposition from him later in the thread, BTW: he urges Libertarians to vote Baldwin, and pledges that he (a Baldwin elector) will vote Barr instead of Castle for VP should he be elected. He is urging Baldwin's other electors to do the same.
Yeah, I saw that, too. It'd hard enough voting for Barr - I don't think I could pull the lever for Baldwin. Fortunately, I'm not in CT, so I don't have to make that choice.
There were tons of petitions that were missing and these are the ones that the campaign never made photocopies, don't trust me on this, you can ask Richard Winger. The campaign mismanaged this state as well.
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