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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNH SoS doesn't think Bernie is eligible to run
lol. good luck with this, Mr. Gardener. Gardener has been in office for almost 40 years. Oh, and he's a democrat. Seeing as 20 states are like VT and don't register voters by party, it's more than likely that many, many presidential candidates, running as dems and repubs, haven't been registered as one or the other, but Mr. Stickler-for-rules is suddenly throwing this up as a road block.
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"If they're going to run in the primary, they have to be a registered member of the party," Gardner told CNN. "Our declaration of candidacy form that they have to fill out says 'I am a registered member of the party.'"
<snip.
Gardner, who takes pride in personally greeting all presidential candidates in the fall when they file their paperwork at the State Capitol in downtown Concord, N.H., stopped short of saying Sanders would be excluded from the 2016 Democratic primary ballot. But he said he did not know how Sanders could answer the simple question on the form: Are you a registered Republican or Democrat?
Even if Sanders wanted to formally declare his allegiance to the Democratic Party, which he has not done during a quarter-century in Congress, he would technically be hamstrung. Vermont, his home state, is one of more than 20 across the country that does not register voters by party.
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It's unlikely that any Democratic candidate would challenge Sanders right to run on the party's ticket, Gardner is known to be a stickler for rules. In a telephone interview on Wednesday, he read the form aloud and said he didn't see any wiggle room for presidential candidates who were technically not registered Democrats or Republicans.
But when reminded that Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, qualified for the New Hampshire ballot, even though he was also not a registered Democrat, Gardner paused for several moments. He said he would dig out Dean's paperwork from storage and check.
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http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/30/politics/bernie-sanders-new-hampshire-democrats/
morningfog
(18,115 posts)"Um... About Dr. Dean I'll get back to you."
cali
(114,904 posts)I keep giggling over that gotcha moment.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)First of many speed bumps,
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)Senator Sanders should be able to fill out any form he has to for each state's requirements.
cali
(114,904 posts)no problem. this is pretty basic and you should be able to grasp it. He's saying Bernie has to be registered as either a democrat or republican. Bernie cannot register as democrat or republican because in Vermont there is no registration by party. Just in case that's a bit too complicated for you, let me put it another way: there are no registered democrats or republicans in the state. That is true for 20 other states. Howard Dean was from Vermont. He was not a registered democrat. He ran in the NH primary. And many other presidential candidates from both parties have run in the NH primary under Mr. Gardener's tenure.
See the bind Mr. Gardener is in?
This will not be a problem for Bernie.
leftofcool
(19,460 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)voter registration by party.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)The attempts to derail his campaign before it even gets going... too obvious. And not just in NH! I've seen it here too
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)cascadiance
(19,537 posts)But there are a different set of rules/laws that apply to national office positions, which are not only president but those congressional seats as well.
National laws prohibit states from putting in place laws allowing a state wide vote to recall state senators or congressmen too. They can do so for governors, but not national offices.
I remember when I was in San Diego and we had a special election to replace Duke Cunningham which Bilbray won narrowly and was subject to concern of many there in the area for problems with electronic voting issues, and some wanted to sue to have a recount of the election. Republicans moved to swear him quickly that local courts felt they couldn't overturn and superseded attempts to legally challenge the election results.
http://bradblog.com/?p=4002
sabrina 1
(62,325 posts)from running.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)mercuryblues
(14,547 posts)to say this is that no one from a state where you can't declare a party affiliation can run for president in NH.
That includes Texas, So why isn't he saying this about Cruz?
http://www.fairvote.org/research-and-analysis/presidential-elections/congressional-and-presidential-primaries-open-closed-semi-closed-and-top-two/
cali
(114,904 posts)Gothmog
(145,667 posts)In Texas, you do not register as a Democrat or Republican. Once you vote in one party's primary, you can not vote in the other party's primary for the remainder of that election cycle. Neither of the Bushes or Carnival Cruz registered in Texas as republicans and so under this theory are not eligible.
I think that the NH SOS is wrong here