"Sore Loser" law keeps Libertarian candidate off of the ballot

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for President this year, will not appear on the ballot in Michigan because he switched affiliation after losing in the GOP primary. A very short article from the Detroit Free Press:

http://www.freep.com/article/201209...ry-johnson-will-not-appear-on-michigan-ballot

I haven't seen anything on this topic anywhere on this forum and apparently most states have these "sore loser" laws. I was wondering what the rest of you think.

Two quick thoughts from me:
1. This disenfranchises voters.
2. The only thing this can do is protect the candidates from the two major parties because the other parties don't hold primary elections, and these laws should be struck down due to their prejudicial focus. The more I think about it the more I come to think that we should altogether stop holding primary elections.

 

I kind of like the law. If Johnson wanted to run as an independent, why didn't he do that in the first place?

 

Oddly enough, if he had wanted to run as an Independent on the November ballot he could have as long as he collected 19,000 signatures. Since he's running as a Libertarian he can't appear on the ballot.

 

I think Newt had a problem with getting enough signatures in on time in a couple of states where he wasn't on the primary ballot. What's the point of that anyway? Why can't anyone run without jumping through that hoop?

 

dogtowner is right, it's supposed to weed out people who aren't serious about running. I agree with you, if you have the backing of a party then I don't see any reason for it. Independents should still have to in lieu of having party support.

 

If I remember correctly, Newt had more than enough signatures turned in, in one state, but the Dems challenged them and there wasn't enough time to verify all the signatures before some deadline. There is just too much BS game playing in our election process. I think the way the whole system, including all the game playing that goes on in Washington and the way our congress works is totally corrupt.

 

It's interesting how many candidates are having "petition signature malfunctions" this election cycle. If I were a cynic I might say the fix is in.

 

If the RINO Republicans don't change their ways they will find themselves out of the game completely. The TP isn't going to wait forever for them to shape up.

I think we should all become Independents, constitutionalists, libertarians etc and kill both parties.

 

Just read something in the NY Times I thought was interesting on this topic. It's an opinion piece by Mickey Edwards.

http://The Unraveling Of Government

I agree almost entirely with this piece. Closed Primaries and sore loser laws result in candidates being elected who wouldn't have otherwise been elected. And, even with that advantage, if the Party doesn't like the outcome, just rig it like the GOP did in Michigan this year (Santorum actually won the GOP primary here)