This Quirky New Hampshire Law Might Keep Bernie Sanders Off The Ballot

[Playinghardball]

Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is on the rise in New Hampshire. But that might not matter if the independent senator from Vermont can't get on the Democratic ballot in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

Due to a quirky New Hampshire filing process — and Sanders' status as an independent rather than a registered Democrat — there are lingering questions about how easy it will be for him to file for the primary next year.

State law says that presidential candidates must be a registered member of the party whose primary ballot they are trying to get on. In fact, the Declaration of Candidacy they must fill out is fairly straightforward (emphasis added):

I, ____, swear under penalties of perjury that I am qualified to be a candidate for president of the United States pursuant to article II, section 1, clause 4 of the United States Constitution, which states, "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States." I further declare that I am domiciled in _____, in the city (or town or unincorporated place) of _____, county of ____, state of ____, that I am a registered member of the _____ party; that I am a candidate for the nomination for the office of president to be made at the primary election to be held on the ____ day of _____; and I hereby request that my name be printed on the official primary ballot of said _____ party as a candidate for such nomination.

It's one of those blanks that is problematic — asking candidates to say "that I am a registered member of the _____ party." Sanders is not a registered member of the Democratic Party, having been elected every time as an independent. Early in his career, he made failed runs as part of the Liberty Union Party.

He did appear on the Democratic primary ballot in Vermont for the Senate in both 2006 and 2012, winning their primary, but he declined the nomination both times so he could run as an independent. Still, the avowed socialist has always caucused with Democrats and is even ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.

Former Rep. Charlie Bass, R-N.H., says that isn't enough evidence for the Vermont senator to make the cut, especially with his explicit rejection of the Democratic nomination in his state twice.

"In short, Sanders is not a Democrat, has not been elected as a Democrat, has never served as a Democrat and cannot plausibly claim, at least in New Hampshire, to be a Democrat," Bass wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.

More here: http://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/06/24/416929786/this-quirky-new-hampshire-law-might-keep-sanders-off-the-ballot

[retrowire]

1. so...

what's the solution?

[MNBrewer]

2. THat would mean that no candidate from Vermont could run for President in any party in NH.

Vermont has no party registration.

It will not be an impediment.

[RoccoR5955]

3. But the law only states

that one affirm what party s/he is on, and what party s/he is running on. Judging from the form they could be two different parties.
The constitution also does not state that a candidate for president has to be from any or no party. I believe that a federal rule would outweigh a state rule, even though this is a statewide primary, it is for a federal office.
Sure, a scared RepubliCON from NH could say that Bernie is not a Democratic Party member, though he would call him a DemocRAT. I believe that this is more hype. The mainstream media, EVEN National Petroleum Radio, will make lots and lots of money from contributions from ads. YES NPR has ads, they don't call them ads, but they are ads.
The other thing that Bernie could do, is to register as a Democratic Party member in the state of Vermont, to set aside any of these stupid stories. There will always be a way around it.

And I am not surprised to see that any mainstream news outlet would want to make it harder for Bernie to get the nomination, as do some of the folks here on DU. (You know who you are, so don't deny it.)

[merrily]

4. The fallacy in this story is that Bernie is an Independent. He is not registered

as an Independent. In Vermont, you register to vote, period. He ran as an Independent because he chose to. For a resident of Vermont, that's all you need to do. Choose when choosing matters. He probably chose to vote in Democratic primaries all these years. Recently, he chose to run as a Democrat. Under the law of his state, that's what makes him a Democrat, his choice.

BTW, Nader challenged a bunch of state laws about getting on the ballot. So, whether or not we can thank him for Bush's first term, we can thank him for a bit more democracy.

I don't know if the law of any of those cases affects Bernie, though. I doubt it.