Candidates crowd state’s presidential ballots
December 17th, 2007, 6:54 pm · 2 Comments · posted by Paul Giblin
A ballot box
Arizona’s presidential preference election on Feb. 5 will feature at least 37 candidates, more than half of whom are political jokers intent on juking state regulations simply to get their names on the official ballot.
Consider the list of candidates who filed the necessary paperwork by Friday afternoon.
On the Democratic side, ballots will feature a “Who’s Who” selection of national candidates that includes Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Barack Obama and Bill Richardson.
Yet, Democratic ballots also will feature a “Who’s That?” slate of candidates that includes people named Peter “Simon” Bollander, William Campbell, Edward Dobson, Tish Haymer, Rich Lee, Frank Lynch, Leland Montell, Michael Oatman, Chuck See, Philip Tanner, Evelyn Vitullo and Sandy Whitehouse.
On the Republican side, the “Who’s Who” side of the ledger features national candidates Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.
The GOP “Who’s That?” selection includes people named Hugh Cort, Jerry Curry, John Michael Fitzpatrick, Bob Forthan, Daniel Gilbert, Frank McEnulty, John R. McGrath, James Creighton Mitchell Jr., David Ruben, Michael P. Shaw, Jack Shepard and Charles Skelley.
At least 13 of the presidential candidates live in Tucson and appear to have exactly zero political experience and zero hope of being elected.
“You know, I cannot comment officially on any of that other than to tell you that the process for appearing on the presidential preference ballot is different than it is to appear in the primary election,” said state election director Joe Kanefield told me.
The process to appear on the presidential primary ballots requires little more than completing a notarized two-page form affirming that the candidate is a natural born U.S. citizen, at least 35 years old, and has been a U.S. resident for at least 14 years.
State law for primary elections, such as those for the U.S. Senate and governor’s office, are different. Primary elections require candidates to gather petitions from other registered voters.
Kanefield said he was a loss to explain the surge of presidential aspirants from Tucson, though the surge of would-be candidates certainly could have something to do with Project White House, an effort by the Tucson Weekly, an alternative newspaper based in the Old Pueblo. Yeah, just maybe.
According to its Web site, Tucson Weekly is encouraging its readers to run for office with the promise of giving ink to those candidates its editors deem newsworthy. Kanefield said elections officials will continue to accept applications until 5 p.m. today, Monday, Dec. 17. “We just receive these things and ensure that they’re in proper order. If so, then they will be certified for the ballot of Feb. 5,” he said.
Arizona has a reputation for attracting a broad field for its presidential preference elections. In 2004, 18 candidates appeared on the Democratic ballot. The Republicans didn’t conduct a similar election that year because President Bush was running for a second term.
Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer will oversee a drawing in her Phoenix office Tuesday to determine the order in which all the candidates’ names will appear on the 2008 Democratic and Republican ballots. The candidates themselves are invited to attend.
December 18th, 2007 at 6:24 am
It is absolutely idiotic that anyone can get on the presidential primary ballot, particularly when Arizona’s ballot access laws are too strict. It is much harder to get on the ballot in the primary for Congress or the state legislature, even when no other candidates are running, than to simply file the moronic 2 pages stating age and citizenship that the presidential primary requires.
This is due to an oversight in not revising the presidential preference primary ballot access that had to be temporarily changed to avoid lawsuits when candidates started not accepting matching FEC funds. The legislature and the governors simply ignored the need to put into effect a more rational system for presidential primary ballot access like Wisconsin’s or Florida’s, which avoids fringe or joke candidates.
On the other hand, California’s recall election won by Arnold Schwarzenegger featured more than 100 candidates and provided amusement.
December 26th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
There is always a propensity for those who are in power to do anything they can to remain in power, even if it costs their constituency. We should all be in favor of encouraging fresh blood in our government. Not to do so risks stagnation and corruption.
I object to being called a ” political joker”, just because I want to express my vision for the country. There are 24 people on the Democratic primary ticket. I don’t think that it is too onerous a task for voters to find their favorite amongst these, and to enjoy the benefits of actually having a choice of candidates, rather than only those few who have been preselected by the party (in much the same way as was done in the old Soviet Union).
We should really be more concerned about opening up the ballot for the general election to be less exclusive if we want to retain a free government.