A Sea Of Red

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Bob Barr Files Suit in Texas to Remove McCain, Obama from Ballot

Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party's nominee for president, has filed a lawsuit in Texas demanding Senators John McCain and Barack Obama be removed from the ballot after they missed the official filing deadline.

"The seriousness of this issue is self-evident," the lawsuit states. "The hubris of the major parties has risen to such a level that they do not believe that the election laws of the State of Texas apply to them."

Texas election code §192.031 requires that the “written certification” of the “party's nominees” be delivered “before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before election day.” Because neither candidate had been nominated by the official filing deadline, the Barr campaign argues it was impossible for the candidates to file under state law.

not awesome?

Texas is 34 electorates. McCain's 34. So Obama would be the next president but old Bob Barr would have 34 electorates. Hooray.

Bob Barr = AWESOME

Schfourteenteen wrote:http://votesmart.org/speech_detail.php? ... =&contain=

Bob Barr Files Suit in Texas to Remove McCain, Obama from Ballot

Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party's nominee for president, has filed a lawsuit in Texas demanding Senators John McCain and Barack Obama be removed from the ballot after they missed the official filing deadline.

"The seriousness of this issue is self-evident," the lawsuit states. "The hubris of the major parties has risen to such a level that they do not believe that the election laws of the State of Texas apply to them."

Texas election code §192.031 requires that the “written certification” of the “party's nominees” be delivered “before 5 p.m. of the 70th day before election day.” Because neither candidate had been nominated by the official filing deadline, the Barr campaign argues it was impossible for the candidates to file under state law.

I haven't read the whole election law for Texas, so I don't know what other provisions there are to get on the ballot (if any), but if the claims by Barr are true, then I hope that Texas does the right thing and take Obama and McCain off the ballot there...Libertarians and other third party candidates get knocked off of state ballots alot if/when they don't follow the letter of the law and meet every deadline given to them...so I don't see why an exception should be made for Republicans and/or Democrats (though each state handles this differently, so it's hard to say one state sets a precendent for any other particular state)...

Seems like Libertarians waste more time on matters that in the end amount to a big nothing.

Bob Barr = NUT

I really hope that this happens.

Baldspot wrote:Seems like Libertarians waste more time on matters that in the end amount to a big nothing.

This is funny right here.

Have you seen Congress lately? Last time I checked, it's overrun with Dems and Reps., not Libertarians, and if Congress isn't the house of matters that amount to a big nothing, I don't know WHAT is...

LUconn wrote:not awesome?

Texas is 34 electorates. McCain's 34. So Obama would be the next president but old Bob Barr would have 34 electorates. Hooray.

Nope, the Constitution states that a candidate needs a majority of votes, so even though McCain wouldn't have those 34 votes, Barr getting them still doesn't help Obama b/c he needs 270 to win.

Having the most votes without having a majority (over 50%, in this case at least 270) is a plurality. Thats not sufficient, constitutionally speaking.

ATrain wrote:

LUconn wrote:not awesome?

Texas is 34 electorates. McCain's 34. So Obama would be the next president but old Bob Barr would have 34 electorates. Hooray.

Nope, the Constitution states that a candidate needs a majority of votes, so even though McCain wouldn't have those 34 votes, Barr getting them still doesn't help Obama b/c he needs 270 to win.

Having the most votes without having a majority (over 50%, in this case at least 270) is a plurality. Thats not sufficient, constitutionally speaking.

Even so, if Obama didn't have a majority of the Electoral votes by the end of Election Day, the vote would defer to the House of Representatives. The House breaks into a quorum based upon states (I'm pretty sure) and goes from there. Since a majority of the states have a majority of Democrats as House members, they'd most likely elect Barack Obama.

So yes, if McCain isn't on the ballot in Texas, Obama is your president.

(unless McCain gets write-in support on the Texas ballot).