Gary Johnson Has Another Ballot Access Issue

Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson has another ballot access issue to deal with, this time in Pennsylvania. Johnson, who was reached by phone before boarding a plane for Philadelphia, said that his campaign found out Tuesday morning that his paperwork for the state was deemed invalid by officials. Johnson was short on specifics but he said that he needed to go in person to solve the problem.

'"If you don't dot the 'I's' and cross the 'T's' they'll disqualify your papers," he said by phone.

Johnson said that the paperwork was sent by FedEx from Texas over the weekend and that it arrived Tuesday in the Keystone State, where it was promptly rejected.

According to a source with the campaign it did not have what's called an apostille, which is a special form of certification for documents. 

"I'll get into Philly at about 1 a.m. and in the morning I'll fill out the papers correctly. Then I'll get back on a plane and head home," Johnson said Tuesday afternoon.  

An attempt to reach the Pennsylvania Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation was unsuccessful. 

Comments

[mr simple]

He must be doing well if he has them this scared.

At least that's what I tell myself at night so I can get to sleep.

[Stormy Dragon]

This has actually been standard in PA for the past few election cycles. The Republicans get all the libertarian candidates kicked off the ballot, the Democrats get all the green candidates kicked off the ballot. It's pretty easy given PA still has partisan judicial elections.

[sarcasmic]

That's not limited to PA.

[Stormy Dragon]

PA seems to be particularly shameless about it though. The apex was last cycle was when the RNC sent party activists out to put fake signatures on the LBP petitions to get their governor's candidate on the ballot, and then used affidavits from those activisits that they had done so as the basis for a lawsuit to get the petitions tossed.

[Eduard van Haalen]

From the apostille link:

"Apostilles and Certifications are not issued for documents that will be used within the United States."

But...did we happen to mention the blood tests?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Pennsylvania is a commonwealth, so technically not one of those united states. So there.

[SIV]

Amateur hour. Does the GayJay campaign staff all fit into one tiny car?

[Citizen Nothing]

So is Romney gonna make the ballot in Washington State?

[Whiterun Guard]

I'll give you two guesses.

[Citizen Nothing]

Two guesses? I think I can get it, then.

[WTF]

'"If you don't dot the 'I's' and cross the 'T's' they'll disqualify your papers," unless you are a democrat or republican.

FIFY

[Romulus Augustus]

Troubles in Pa. are worse: more than half the signatures turned in are being challenged in Philadelphia as being fraudulent. If they cannot be verified - and the LPP and Constitution parties have volunteers at the election board right now - then Johnson and Goode will be tossed off the ballot. Apparently the Independence Tea Party is lining up volunteers to help toss out the signatures, thus revealing itself as a creature of the GOP and not a non-partisan defender of the constitution and spending cuts. Can we get Starchild
to move to Penna. and start carrying Romney signs at their rallies?
After all, if the LP is "stealing votes" from Romney, then it is only fair that LP supporters- no matter their views, appearance, etc. - return to the fold.

[John Balzer]

Gary Johnson collected more than twice the number of signatures necessary so having a few thrown out isn't so bad. It's the obvious brute force demonstrated by the GOP that is despicable. It will drain Libertarian coffers and energy defending an American right that they possess. I wish this would receive press outside the Gary Johnson circles. It really identifies corruption as usual.

[Stormy Dragon]

They should implement a "loser pays" law for ballot petition challenges.

[JamesFromPittsburgh]

This is getting a bit embarrassing. Has the Libertarian Party ever put someone on the ballot before? Did Party management sack everyone that knew how to fill out forms accurately and timely between 2008 and 2012?

[Stormy Dragon]

It's not incompetence on the part of the LBP, it's a concerted effort by the PA GOP to target third party candidates which, when combined with the state having some of the hardest ballot access laws in the country, make it nearly impossible for anyone to get onto the ballot.

[Citizen Nothing]

It's easy. Make the ballot access laws so complex that every candidate makes some sort of hyper-technical error, and then just approve candidates from the parties who wrote the ballot access laws. This is not rocket science.

[db]

It's the direct analogue of making the criminal code so complex that everyone commits three felonies a day, creating a smorgasb?rd or potential charges to throw at troublemakers.

[db]

As a PA voter, it infuriates me that my choices in voting are being dictated by the good old boys in charge. Any chance that a republican candidate for any office will receive a vote from me is rapidly evaporating, nay, sublimating.

Gary Johnson will get my vote if I have to tap it out in Morse code.

[Stormy Dragon]

I was voting for Johnson, but crap like this is making me consider switching to voting Obama purely out of spite.

[Clich? Bandit]

All you nay-sayers are uninformed about the struggle in most states to stay on the ballot. Access is one of my major peeves and to listen to a bunch of internet trolls bashing PA or the LP or GJ2012 over ballot access pisses me off. There are plenty of areas where the LP and GJ2012 can be criticized legitimately. But Ballot access is NOT one of them. Since Harry Brown the LP has been fighting to get back on all 50. The GJ2012 campaign has made that a real possibility. Just getting OK (via Americans Elect) is a huge fucking victory. As for PA I know a lot of the LP guys there, all quality activists who are effective. Everyone on this board should know that the more waves GJ2012 makes the more the fight will come to our door...just ask any Ron Paul delegate. You might as well call them all morons for not getting the nomination...same stupid thought process.

And until you have collected sigs for the LP, your opinion on their ballot access efforts can pound sand!

[ViragoVirgo]

Their website clearly states that is is not required for US documents. The problem is most likely that someone saw he's from New Mexico and thinks it is a foreign country. Happens to us all the time....seriously! You'd be surprised how many people don't know that it is in fact a state. Either that, or they are just trying to kick him off. I wouldn't be surprised by either.

[scbutler]

What again? As I've said before, Gov. Johnson has to jump through more hoops than necessary to appear on states' ballots. Makes me wonder who is putting pressure on the Pennsylvania Bureau of Commissions, Elections and Legislation, as well as the other states' similar commissions, to try to keep Gov. Johnson off their ballots. I'm definitely going to vote for Gov. Johnson because I admire his tenacity.