Posted on 09/22/2004 12:50:19 PM PDT by Land_of_Lincoln_John
CHICAGO - A federal appeals court on Wednesday refused to give independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader a spot on the Illinois ballot, saying his lawsuit against state election officials who turned him down came too late.
The courts acted quickly on his suit, but it came so late that "Nader created a situation in which any remedial order would throw the state's preparations for the election into turmoil," a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said.
The decision was a boon to Democrats who expect their presidential nominee, John Kerry, to win Illinois but were worried that Nader would draw votes away from him as he did against Al Gore four years ago.
The 11-page opinion written by Judge Richard Posner upheld an Aug. 23 decision by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly, who refused to order state officials to put the consumer advocate's name on the presidential ballot for the Nov. 2 election.
On June 21, the deadline for turning in petitions, Nader submitted petitions with 32,437 signatures on them to the State Board of Elections. The law requires 25,000.
Elections officials, acting on a complaint, reviewed the signatures and disqualified 12,327 that they determined belonged to people who were not registered to vote at the addresses listed on the petitions. Nader supporters submitted 7,000 more names later, but officials refused to count them because they were turned in after the June 21 deadline.
Nader claimed the June 21 deadline, the 25,000-signatures requirement and the rule involving addresses were unconstitutional.
The appeals court said that "it would be inequitable to order preliminary relief in a suit filed so gratuitously late in the campaign season."
The court acknowledged that its decision represented a setback for Nader followers but added that it would be worse "if a last-minute injunction disrupts the presidential election in Illinois." The court noted that absentee ballots without Nader's name had already been mailed to overseas voters.
If Nader really believed that the rules were unconstitutional, he could have filed suit when he declared his candidacy in February, the court said. "And Nader's supporters can, of course, cast write-in votes for him in November," the court added.
Nader is currently on the ballot in more than 30 states and has faced court challenges in 17.
On Tuesday, Nader criticized Democrats for backing lawsuits to keep him off state ballots, but he also said, "It just reinforces our determination
Oh well...that just means IL is the only state that will go to Kerry...
I heard Begala one day last week as much as admit that they've been idiotic to take Nader away from having to politic in states like Illinois. LOL
Ah, so the precident is set... Hillary can't get on the ballot if the Dems pull the Torrecelli Option.
I read a post on the DUmp a few months ago saying they weren't really worried about Nader because he promised not to campaign in swing states. This article makes it seem the big bosses are more worried than they tell the 'little people'.
And when Kerry still loses by a landslide, they will blame it on the voting machines being too technical for Kerry supporters to figure out. That will probably be true, but is it Bush's fault that only idiots vote for Kerry?
Nader should appeal to the NJ Supreme court.
SOP for DUmbocrats.
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