NH SoS doesn't think Bernie is eligible to run

[cali]

lol. good luck with this, Mr. Gardener. Gardener has been in office for almost 40 years. Oh, and he's a democrat. Seeing as 20 states are like VT and don't register voters by party, it's more than likely that many, many presidential candidates, running as dems and repubs, haven't been registered as one or the other, but Mr. Stickler-for-rules is suddenly throwing this up as a road block.

<snip>


"If they're going to run in the primary, they have to be a registered member of the party," Gardner told CNN. "Our declaration of candidacy form that they have to fill out says 'I am a registered member of the party.'"

<snip.

Gardner, who takes pride in personally greeting all presidential candidates in the fall when they file their paperwork at the State Capitol in downtown Concord, N.H., stopped short of saying Sanders would be excluded from the 2016 Democratic primary ballot. But he said he did not know how Sanders could answer the simple question on the form: Are you a registered Republican or Democrat?

Even if Sanders wanted to formally declare his allegiance to the Democratic Party, which he has not done during a quarter-century in Congress, he would technically be hamstrung. Vermont, his home state, is one of more than 20 across the country that does not register voters by party.

<snip>

It's unlikely that any Democratic candidate would challenge Sanders right to run on the party's ticket, Gardner is known to be a stickler for rules. In a telephone interview on Wednesday, he read the form aloud and said he didn't see any wiggle room for presidential candidates who were technically not registered Democrats or Republicans.

But when reminded that Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, qualified for the New Hampshire ballot, even though he was also not a registered Democrat, Gardner paused for several moments. He said he would dig out Dean's paperwork from storage and check.

<snip>

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/30/politics/bernie-sanders-new-hampshire-democrats/

[morningfog]

1. Lol. "Rules are rules!"

"Um... About Dr. Dean I'll get back to you."

[cali]

4. I know, it's so absurd, it's just funny

I keep giggling over that gotcha moment.

[PowerToThePeople]

2. Gardner is a Republican? n/t

[cali]

5. no, he's a dem. I just checked.

[daleanime]

3. ........

First of many speed bumps,

[leftofcool]

6. Potential candidates do have to comply with states rules but I don't see this as a problem

Senator Sanders should be able to fill out any form he has to for each state's requirements.

[cali]

7. lol, but Dean and other from states who didn't have party registration had

no problem. this is pretty basic and you should be able to grasp it. He's saying Bernie has to be registered as either a democrat or republican. Bernie cannot register as democrat or republican because in Vermont there is no registration by party. Just in case that's a bit too complicated for you, let me put it another way: there are no registered democrats or republicans in the state. That is true for 20 other states. Howard Dean was from Vermont. He was not a registered democrat. He ran in the NH primary. And many other presidential candidates from both parties have run in the NH primary under Mr. Gardener's tenure.

See the bind Mr. Gardener is in?

This will not be a problem for Bernie.

[leftofcool]

13. We shall see what the rules are state by state.

[arcane1]

8. Interesting. Dean had not occurred to me.

[cali]

9. well, dean and who knows how many others from the 20 states that, like VT, have no

voter registration by party.

[arcane1]

10. And this suddenly, conveniently, becomes an issue NOW.

The attempts to derail his campaign before it even gets going... too obvious. And not just in NH! I've seen it here too

[Agschmid]

19. I think they will get past this issue really quickly.

[cascadiance]

11. Perhaps for state and local offices they could make this requirement...

But there are a different set of rules/laws that apply to national office positions, which are not only president but those congressional seats as well.

National laws prohibit states from putting in place laws allowing a state wide vote to recall state senators or congressmen too. They can do so for governors, but not national offices.

I remember when I was in San Diego and we had a special election to replace Duke Cunningham which Bilbray won narrowly and was subject to concern of many there in the area for problems with electronic voting issues, and some wanted to sue to have a recount of the election. Republicans moved to swear him quickly that local courts felt they couldn't overturn and superseded attempts to legally challenge the election results.

http://bradblog.com/?p=4002

[sabrina 1]

12. Oh please, let him do it! NOTHING will get Bernie more publicity than the SOS trying to stop him

from running.

[JaneyVee]

14. National Dems already welcomed him to the race. Fuck that guy.

[Fumesucker]

15. This dude's IT crew is going to love him...

[mercuryblues]

16. an easy way

to say this is that no one from a state where you can't declare a party affiliation can run for president in NH.

That includes Texas, So why isn't he saying this about Cruz?

http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/presidential-elections/congressional-and-presidential-primaries-open-closed-semi-closed-and-top-two/

[cali]

17. exactly. he just doesn't want to let Bernie compete in NH

[Gothmog]

18. Under this legal theory, then neither Bush would have been eligible and Carnival Cruz is also out

In Texas, you do not register as a Democrat or Republican. Once you vote in one party's primary, you can not vote in the other party's primary for the remainder of that election cycle. Neither of the Bushes or Carnival Cruz registered in Texas as republicans and so under this theory are not eligible.

I think that the NH SOS is wrong here