Indiana LP Screwed By Elections Division

The statist reactionaries continue to resort to illegal tricks and tactics to restrain our growing movement. From the blog of Mike Kole, Libertarian candidate for Indiana Secretary of State:

About 12 Libertarian candidate have had their candidacies declared invalid.

Are they felons? No. (Then again, a felon can still run for Congress…)
Have they made misleading statements with their filings? No.
Have they failed to file their papers? No.
Have they accepted a bribe? No.
Have they made threats against voters or opposition candidates? No.

So, what horrible crime have they committed against the people of Indiana? Nothing at all. They were bounced on a technicality.

What was this technicality? This is what the letter from the election goons said:

After their state convention, the LPIN was authorized by state statute to nominate candidates for offices listed in IC 3-8-4-2 and IC 3-8-4-10 if the LPIN did not nominate candidates for those offices at their state convention. IC 3-13-1-20 proscribes the process for filing these vacancies and provides, in relevant part:

“A candidate vacancy that exists following the convention of the party shall be filled by the state committee of the political party…. The chairman of the state committe shall file a notice of intent to fill the candidate vacancy with the official who is required to receive a certificate of candidate selection under section 15 of this chapter, The notice must be filed not later than ten (10) days before the chairman fills the candidate vacancy. (emphasis added)”

The “notice of intent to fill the candidate vacancy” described in IC 3-13-1-20 is a filing subject to SECTION 3 of House Enrolled Act 1011, which enacted a new statute, Indiana Code 3-5-4-1.9, that became effective March 23, 2006.

Damn them, damn their cheating ways, damn their illegal grasping of power. They cannot keep us down forever, though. The tide of liberty is rising mightily in Indiana and parliamentary bullshit tricks can only delay the inevitable.

posted Jul 25th, 2006 by Stuart Richards
  • http://www.libertyforsale.com Timothy West

    The longer they try to keep the lid on, the worse the lid will blow off when it goes. The question is, who will be the benefitor of the blow up?

    Think the LP platform. It’s far better to cope with and manage oncoming change than to deny it.

  • IanC

    If I understand this post correctly, the candidates were rejected ballot status due to the lack of filing of a “letter of intent” — correct?

  • http://www.tom-hanna.org Tom Hanna

    A mature political party would learn the rules and follow them. Republican and Democrat candidates get bounced for these kinds of reasons, too. [As in the case of Tom DeLay's Texas seat where a technicality is preventing the Republicans from running a candidate.] It happens less often because those parties take the time to know the rules. Less time whining and more time making sure the LPs ducks are in a row would be more productive.

  • http://www.rockhoward.org Rock Howard

    A mature commentator would know that a state cannot add new qualifications over and above those in the U.S. Constitution in order for a federal candidate to be qualified for the ballot. Therefore the two U.S. House candidates affected by this situation are in good shape to get back on the ballot with an injunction. I bet the others could find a good pretext for challenging the rule as well. More time fighting can also be productive.

    However it is a useful lesson for every state party. Make sure that you have someone reading every proposed election law as they arise. Speak out against those that work against us or other minor parties and independents. Know the committee chairs and get on the list for hearing schedules. When you are doing this work (as I have done in Texas), then it is much harder to get caught by suprise by new regulations.

  • http://www.mikekole.com Mike Kole

    We find that the Elections Division doesn’t know what the law is. They approved a handful of our candidates who were filed in the same time period as the ones that were disqualified. The Division was just as surprised as LPIN was.

    What it points to is the fact that our growth is threatening to the Ds & Rs, so the Legislature threw an extra hoop in their for us to jump through.

    No excuses- we missed it. We have been talking about hiring legal to conduct an annual post-legislative session review, so that we are kept informed. It is a reminder that mature political parties have to, unfortunately, effectively deal with a lot of games if they want to continue to advance. They know that this is a drain on our resources, so it’s a game they will likely continue to play. We learn. We evolve. We’ll beat ‘em.