Four Presidential Petitions Filed in Wisconsin; State Elections Office Questions Validity of Two of Them

The Wisconsin deadline for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, has passed. Four petitions were submitted for President: Gary Johnson (Libertarian), Jill Stein (Green), Gloria LaRiva (Party for Socialism and Liberation), and Jerry White (Socialist Equality Party).

The state elections office rejected the petitions of Jill Stein and Jerry White because the board says there is a residency requirement for presidential elector candidates, and a group must have a resident in each U.S. House district. However, as noted on yesterday’s post about Jerry White, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that presidential petitions may not be rejected on those grounds. The 2004 decision was won by Ralph Nader. The Stein and White campaigns will point this out to the state elections officials.

The Constitution Party and Americans Elect are ballot-qualified parties in Wisconsin, and thus no petition is needed for their presidential nominees. The Party for Socialism and Liberation petitioned for Gloria LaRiva instead of its actual presidential candidate, Peta Lindsey, because Wisconsin will not print the name of presidential candidates on the ballot if those presidential candidates don’t meet the qualifications listed in the U.S. Constitution. Lindsey is under the age of 35.

Comments

Four Presidential Petitions Filed in Wisconsin; State Elections Office Questions Validity of Two of Them — 8 Comments

clay on August 9, 2012 at 1:45 pm said:

Why do the Greens keep doing things like this? Wisconsin is the home of the campaign headquarters!
Richard Winger on August 9, 2012 at 2:07 pm said:

It was tricky, because the boundaries of the congressional districts changed recently. Residency requirements for candidates for presidential elector are idiotic. What difference does it make where a candidate for presidential elector lives, as long as he or she lives in the state? And it’s especially idiotic in years after redistricting. If candidates for Congress don’t need to live in their district, why should candidates for presidential elector need to live in the district?
:-) on August 9, 2012 at 2:23 pm said:

so do the Libertarians and $ociali$m+Liberation have access yet, or does Wisconsin still have to validate the signatures?
Richard Winger on August 9, 2012 at 3:29 pm said:

#3, the Libertarian petition and the PSL petition have been approved by the state.
C. on August 9, 2012 at 6:43 pm said:

Here’s the SEP’s statement on their denied petition:

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/aug2012/wisc-a09.shtml
Ron Hardy on August 10, 2012 at 5:30 am said:

NOOOOOOO!!!!
Jim Riley on August 10, 2012 at 9:41 am said:

#2 Each State legislature has the supreme and plenary power to direct the manner by which its presidential electors are appointed.

It was a political decision by Congress to read the Constitution as not permitting district residency as a requirement for the House of Representatives, and it was decided in a more limited context. Maryland used to have a two-member district for Baltimore city and Baltimore county, and while all voters could vote for both, there was a requirement that one representative come from the city and one from the county.

How can someone who does not reside in an area be said to be representative of the people who reside in an area?
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