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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsElection official warns Sanders could be disqualified from NH primary if law not changed
https://www.wmur.com/article/election-official-warns-sanders-could-be-disqualified-from-nh-primary-if-law-not-changed/26092357In 2015, Sanders, long an independent, signed up as a Democrat to run in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. But when he ran for re-election to the U.S. Senate last year in Vermont, he once again rejected the Democratic Party nomination.
"The Ballot Law Commission, interpreting the statute as it currently reads, would be required, because it's our job to apply your laws, to keep him off the ballot," Cook said.
Under state law, Sanders must be a registered member of the Democratic Party to run as a Democrat. In 2016, the Ballot Law Commission rejected a challenge to Sanders' candidacy, but Cook said the commission is unlikely to do so again.
"He did represent to us that in future elections he would run as a Democrat, a statement he made in a press conference after he filed at the Secretary of State's Office," Cook said.
Or, don't change the law, and let the chips fall where they may.
Sid
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)I wont even consider him. WTF is he hiding?
uponit7771
(90,347 posts)oasis
(49,389 posts)TexasTowelie
(112,250 posts)their income tax returns:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10651015
Tom Rinaldo
(22,913 posts)PunkinPi
(4,875 posts)The Maryland Senate approved a bill on Monday that would require candidates on a presidential ticket to release their tax returns in order to get on the state's ballot. If passed, this would be the first such law in the U.S., and would require tax returns going back five years.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/06/591165165/md-senate-passes-bill-requiring-presidential-candidates-to-release-tax-returns
politicaljunkie41910
(3,335 posts)Have those places passed bills requiring candidates to release their tax returns? If not can someone who lives in those states petition their state Senate to get the ball rolling? I'll help collect signatures in either Florida or D.C.
Cha
(297,317 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)R B Garr
(16,954 posts)ironic considering his complaints about rigged systems. That strategy sounds familiar: complain the loudest to take attention away from what you are actually doing...? Rigged systems, indeed.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)I guess its never too early to start the Sanders isnt a REAL democrat talk.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)"Real" or any other kind. Not-a-Democrat is a major part of his personal and professional identities.
So he wants the substantial electoral benefits and support the party gives to Democratic candidates. Understandable. But he's only LIKE Democratic candidates in that desire, and he might well take offense at even that being pointed out.
Respect him, accept his choice of identity. I do and wouldn't dream of insulting him by calling him a Democrat.
TexasTowelie
(112,250 posts)It is relevant to bring it into discussion now.
Wounded Bear
(58,670 posts)Sanders is not a registered Democrat. That is a fact. His desire to run as a Democrat is taking advantage of a system that gave him a pass last time around.
I hear choruses of "Won't be fooled again" echoing in my brain.
BootinUp
(47,165 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)I dont care if he wants to run or not, but from 2016, it seems like we already settled the question over whether he CAN run as a democrat, and the DNC didnt seem to do anything since then to address this issue. If they truly felt like this was a problem, it should have been handled already.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Then, in 2018, he told everyone in the world that he's not a Democrat, he's an Independent, when he turned down the Democratic nomination in the US Senate election in VT.
He was not truthful with the NH SoS when he represented that he would run as a Dem in future elections.
Why should NH believe that he's a Democrat is 2020?
Sid
hughee99
(16,113 posts)To prevent this from happening again since then even though they knew it likely would. Now we have to sit through this same state by state level technicality bullshit again because the problem was ignored.
dogman
(6,073 posts)I would think the next election he runs for in NH would be as the Democratic nominee for President. We would need more details to know the context of the agreement. I can't register as a Democrat in my state. You pull the ballot you want when you vote.
honest.abe
(8,678 posts)I guess facts don't matter.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)It caused problems back then and they did nothing about it to prevent it from happening again.
honest.abe
(8,678 posts)His bizarre party identification hopping makes him untrustworthy.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)I dont believe VT has a mechanism to actually register for a party. So he never officially registered for the party and they let him run for the Dem nomination anyway. He didnt win and declared that he was NOT a democrat. The DNC has known this problem was potentially coming again for a few years now. They could have changed the rules requiring someone to be a registered Dem to run. They could have created a system to allow people whose states dont have a system to declare party affiliation, to do so in a way that meets their criteria. Instead, I suspect theyll use the same sort of tactics to go after Sanders in 2020 that they used in 2016, and you can argue that many of those did more harm than good, in the end.
honest.abe
(8,678 posts)Patrick Leahy seems to have figured out a way to be a REAL Democrat in Vermont. Why cant Bernie do the same?
Also, I thought the DNC implemented some new rules for anyone running for Dem nomination:
The new rule, adopted by the DNCs Rules and Bylaws Committee, requires all Democratic presidential candidates to be a member of the Democratic Party, Yahoo News reported.
A presidential candidate running for the Democratic nomination must be a member of the party, accept the Democratic nomination and run and serve as a member.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/391459-dnc-panel-adopts-rule-requiring-candidates-to-run-serve-as-a-democrat
hughee99
(16,113 posts)Either Leahy became a democrat at a time when Vermont still allowed this (in which case Bernie needs a time machine), or Leahy became a Democrat the same way Sanders became an independent... by just declaring it to be so.
As for the story, Im not sure how I missed this but thanks for pointing it out. Good on the DNC for doing this and I apologize for mistakenly calling them out for not doing it.
The NH state rules are irrelevant, in this case. Bernie cant run if hes not a Dem. He cant run in any state. The specific rule in NH doesnt matter because the DNC wont let him run without being a Dem anyway.
peacefrogman
(76 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)Were going to end up with the same problems.
If Bernie could sign a paper to make him officially a democrat for the primary, knowing that he could always undo this right after his campaign ends, would you be fine with him running?
peacefrogman
(76 posts)in the last two years. That says something. This state has a law. We should expect our candidates to follow laws and keep to their word.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)Either Sanders is willing to be an actual Democrat, or he is not. Does he just need to sign some paper and its all good? Does he have to be in the party for so long before he can run? Does he have to remain in the party for so long after he runs?
The DNC should set the policy about who can run for the nomination, and who is not eligible. They shouldnt have a situation where a candidate is eligible in one state and not another. This was a completely foreseeable problem that they did nothing to resolve.
peacefrogman
(76 posts)now. This is on Sanders. He should not be allowed special treatment just cause. 2016 was different and DNC gave Sanders a lot of allowances that should not be in play in 2020.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)Bernie isnt a Dem and the primary is now officially Dems only. Since there doesnt seem to be any way for him to register as a Dem, he is not, an cannot, be a candidate in the Democratic Primary.
My apologies to the DNC for calling them out for not doing this, when they did address this last summer. This was an appropriate way to handle this issue.
peacefrogman
(76 posts)2018 Sanders ran as a Democrat for senator then rejected the Democratic Party in Vermont. I am thinking Vermont can run as members of the Democratic Party.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)If he had accepted, would that have made him a democrat automatically? Hed still be the same person he is now. He could even continue to say hes not a Democrat.
You can run as a Dem in Vermont if you want, but theres no official sign up sheet to document that you are a member.
peacefrogman
(76 posts)nomination with 2018 senate run? I think that is how it worked. As a lifetime Democrat that does matter to me. 2016 he said he would join the Democratic Party. He didn't. That isn't the conversation regarding the OP, though. What started this conversation is that Sanders didn't follow the law in 2016, so he should not have to follow the law in 2020. I do not agree with that assessment.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)And they suggested that in NH, they would not rule in his favor as they did in 2016. None of this matters, though, since the DNC passed a rule that seems unambiguous and it applies everywhere, not just in NH (probably to specifically avoid this situation, where someones eligibility is determined on a state by state basis). Bernie is out of the DNC primary unless he can somehow figure out a way to register as a Dem and then actually follow through and do it.
I dont recall Sanders ever saying he was a democrat during the senate primary, though the Dems in VT certainly supported him over a candidate who did call himself a democrat.
Demit
(11,238 posts)States run their own elections. States create their own election laws. If a state's election law says a potential candidate has to be a REGISTERED member of a party to be put on the ballot, then a candidate has to register with a party. A party's policy has nothing to do with that.
hughee99
(16,113 posts)It makes zero sense to have candidates who are eligible in one state and not another. And it apparently isnt just me that thinks the national party should address this, as the DNC did, in fact, address this specific issue last summer as another poster was kind enough to inform me.
dogman
(6,073 posts)Cha
(297,317 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)If Bernie isnt a registered Dem, he cant run for the Dem nomination anywhere. The NH law doesnt matter since the the new DNC rule prohibits it everywhere.
GulfCoast66
(11,949 posts)Real or pretend? Facts are stubborn things.
TCJ70
(4,387 posts)...but labels over policy I suppose.
Gothmog
(145,321 posts)lark
(23,105 posts)Sanders time has passed and he needs to STUFU.
comradebillyboy
(10,154 posts)redstatebluegirl
(12,265 posts)I also want any candidate who runs as a Democrat to be a member of the party for at least 1 year before the primary.
TeamPooka
(24,229 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)openly compete with Trump for the many voters vulnerable to populist messages. He hoped to bring left and right together in a revolutionary movement. But as it happens, a very significant portion of those drawn to populist messages are naturally oriented to both progressive economic policies that benefit them and socially conservative "culture wars" policy. "Chickens in OUR pots" types.
So Sanders of necessity, like all populist campaigns, whether right, left or centrist, communist, socialist, theocratic, fascist, totalitarian or whatever in ideology, had to somehow appeal to that combination and pull voters away from both Trump and Hillary.
Remember all those white working class males who'd OD'd on too much equality in the Democratic Party? Sanders got some, but Trump's strongly racist/misogynistic version of populism proved more seductive than Sanders' economically heavy version.
Notably, roughly 23-24% of Sanders' voters did not vote Democrat in the GE, 12% to Trump, only 2% not voting, and the other half throwing their votes away to third-party candidates in rejection of the profoundly progressive plans of the Democratic Party. Very revealing. Hostility trumped even the promise of chicken every day.
"As FiveThirtyEight noted, Hillary Clinton was winning states that closely resembled the Democratic Party. In short, she was winning more diverse states, regardless of geographic location whereas Bernie Sanders support was seemingly limited to whiter states that more often than not took part in the caucus process."
Well, yes. So was Trump's, although his also included southern states Sanders lost to Hillary.
scarytomcat
(1,706 posts)if he wants to run again
peggysue2
(10,832 posts)As I have said elsewhere:
This is not 2016.
WeekiWater
(3,259 posts)Squinch
(50,955 posts)because he said he was going to stay a Democrat going forward, and then as soon as he lost he switched back to being an Independent, and now he's trying to do the same thing again?
Fool me once, and all that.
JCanete
(5,272 posts)He'd be a democrat for the purposes of the primary and the GE.
Squinch
(50,955 posts)if he had no intention of doing that?
They would need to bend because that was their law and he made the promise in exchange for them not applying that law to him.
SidDithers
(44,228 posts)Why should NH believe him this time?
Sid
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)It's that simple.