Michigan Secretary of State refuses to list Gary Johnson on November ballot

Ballot Access News » Blog Archive » Michigan Libertarian Party State Convention Takes Action to Guarantee Gary Johnson is on the November Ballot:

June 3, 2012 - "Gary Johnson, the national Libertarian Party presidential nominee, was on the ballot in the February 2012 Republican presidential primary ballot in Michigan. The Secretary of State is interpreting Michigan law to mean that, therefore, the Libertarian Party is forbidden to nominate Johnson.

"The Secretary of State’s position is very weak. The law hasn’t changed since before 1980, and in 1980 the former Secretary of State, Richard Austin, interpreted the state’s 'sore loser' law not to apply to presidential primaries. Therefore, he printed John B. Anderson’s name on the November 1980 ballot in Michigan even though Anderson had run in the 1980 Republican presidential primary. The Secretary of State disavows this precedent on the grounds that in 1980, Michigan didn’t have procedures for independent presidential candidates, something that is irrelevant, and also not true....

"In all history, no minor party has ever had its presidential nominee kept off any state’s general election ballot on the grounds that the nominee had run in a major party presidential primary."

Read more: http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/06/03/michigan-libertarian-party-state-convention-takes-action-to-guarantee-gary-johnson-is-on-the-november-ballot/
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