Arizona Democrats Sue to Keep Spoiler ‘No Labels’ Candidate Off 2024 Ballot
“After campaigning on fighting for democracy, the Arizona Democratic Party is reportedly suing to stop a third-party organization from accessing the state’s presidential ballot in the 2024 election.”
Arizona Democrats have launched a lawsuit to keep a ‘No Labels’ candidate off the 2024 ballot. No Labels would not win a presidential contest, but as a third-party option, they could definitely act as a spoiler, mainly for Democrats.
Dems see this threat and are trying to neutralize it now.
FOX News reports:
‘Pro-democracy’ Arizona Democrats sue to block No Labels third-party from ballot
After campaigning on fighting for democracy, the Arizona Democratic Party is reportedly suing to stop a third-party organization from accessing the state’s presidential ballot in the 2024 election.
The lawsuit targets No Labels, a centrist group that aims to give voters a non-extreme presidential option next year and has secured ballot access in three states, including Arizona. Democratic officials will file a complaint Thursday in state court in Phoenix alleging that Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, a Democrat, erroneously accepted signature petitions from the group, The Washington Post reported.
The lawsuit claims that accompanying affidavits from proposed electors were signed before all the petitions were gathered, in violation of state statute. “As a result, the Arizona Democratic Party claims the affidavits purporting to verify the petitions should be considered false and the petitions invalid,” the Post reported.
Arizona Democrats also claim that No Labels, a registered 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that is not required to disclose its donors, has failed to comply with federal election laws governing political parties, including donation limits and donor disclosure.
The Washington Examiner offers more specifics on the suit:
State Democratic leaders are planning to file the lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Thursday as a way to reverse his decision to recognize the centrist group No Labels as a third-party ticket in the presidential election. The move reflects growing concern among Democrats that a “spoiler” candidate could derail President Joe Biden’s hopes of being reelected and threaten the party’s chances of maintaining control of the Senate.
The lawsuit accuses Fontes of violating state laws when accepting signature petitions from No Labels to receive access to the ballot, according to the Washington Post. Democratic officials claim the accompanying affidavits were signed and approved before the minimum number of petitions were gathered.
As a result, the party leaders argue the affidavits that verified the signatures are false and should be nullified, the lawsuit states…
Members of the No Labels movement pushed back against those allegations, arguing the lawsuit was being used as a political tactic to suppress third-party voices.
“This undemocratic and unscrupulous lawsuit is a disgrace,” Ryan Clancy, chief strategist for No Labels, said in a statement. “Next time you hear this crowd talking about protecting democracy, remember what they are really doing is protecting their turf.”
As noted in December, No Labels is mired in internal conflicts, but they would threaten Democrats in 2024, who are desperate to avoid another Jill Stein situation like 2016.
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Comments
Does it really matter as long as they still control the Maricopa Fraud Machine?
So why should Arizona Republicans and Conservatives bother to vote at all. If what you say is true then there is no way for a Republican to win. So why bother. Just stay at home and don’t vote. It won’t change the outcome at all if you vote because of the “Maricopa Fraud Machine”. Just forget it. Don’t vote as your vote simply doesn’t matter. There’s no way a Republican can win.
You know what a self-fulfilling prophecy is? It’s your defeatist attitude. If everyone thought like you then the democrats certainly will win. So just stop with the defeatist nonsense.
Fallacy of the false choice.
The choice isn’t between “vote” and “do nothing,” it also includes “do something more effective.”
A third party ticket led by Joe Manchin could overcome the margin of fraud. That got them worried.
“Democracy”, ha! A “democracy” where you only get to cast your vote if you “choose” the “correct” candidate.
Note the No Labels group doesn’t actually provide counter-argument against the allegations. Just throws mud back on the Democrats.
So, obviously they’re progressives. (The whole “centrist” thing is so much malarkey.)
Centrists are very nervous people. Unless and until the opposing sides state their positions, centrists don’t have any idea where they should stand, when they should stand, or even if they should stand. Or maybe just sit quietly, or lay down roll over…..
Hahahaha
“Next time you hear this crowd talking about protecting democracy, remember what they are really doing is protecting their turf.”
They say, is if this were a surprise to anyone.
Duh.
“is if” should have been “as if”.
Stupid fingers.
Establishing and building a viable third party requires ballot access and the establishment will fight tooth and nail to prevent it. The reality is that in the foreseeable future we are stuck with the two party framework and for all the faults of the GoP the d/prog are much worse.
Trump possibly had the heft, money and appeal to create a viable third party after Biden’s inauguration. He would have had two years to recruit candidates for the midterms and get signatures for ballot access then use that success as a springboard to grow into a ’24 Presidential run. Even he realized the danger of making the attempt and coming up short; d/prog domination of our political system at every level.
The bright spot is the growing number of populists within the ranks of elected GoP officials. The voting base in many areas has become far more populist/right and have begun electing more officials who agree with them which scares the DC establishment.
I agree with you, but as this comments section demonstrates, Trump has effectively already created a third party of loyalists who will only pretend to be Republican/conservative as long as Trump is the presidential candidate. How they vote down ballot will likely also depend entirely on which candidates declare their fealty to Trump.
You could put anyone on the ballot and the democrat wins. The ballots are all ready.
So why should Arizona Republicans and Conservatives bother to vote at all. If what you say is true then there is no way for a Republican to win. So why bother. Just stay at home and don’t vote. It won’t change the outcome at all if you vote because the democrat “ballots are all ready”. Just forget it. Don’t vote as your vote simply doesn’t matter. There’s no way a Republican can win.
You know what a self-fulfilling prophecy is? It’s your defeatist attitude. If everyone thought like you then the democrats certainly will win. So just stop with the defeatist nonsense. You’re only handing the election to the democrats.
Unfortunately, this is a Hobson’s choice. If the states control the voting laws and ballot access, the only other choice is for the federalization of the voting process. I am a believer in state’s rights but this comes with a realization that corrupt state legislatures and governors can make federal voting a total fraud. Most of the battleground states have horrible voter roll veracity and allow voting rules to be changed unlawfully by election committees that do not have the power to make the changes. I do not know what the answer is but the SCOTUS should be involved with this mess.
So, how do you get this through Congress and get a Dem President to cut his own throat?
A terrible idea. When voting is in the hands of the states, some number of states will run it honestly. Once it is in the hands of the feds, one dishonest administration screws all states. And in fact we already have that administration, so doing this would be cutting our own throats.
Hmmm, move to a blue state and then file suit as a citizen to challenge bad practice?
Like most self-proclaimed centrist groups, NoLabels consists of tepid Leftists. Hence Democrats perceive it as a threat .
Even if they are forced to run as a write in that could be enough to upset the applecart. The margin of victory for the Machine is very small.
#NoLabels #NoJudgment? Democrats are Pro-Choice? Transphobic (e.g. politically congruent (“=”)? Misogynistic? Misandristic? Transhumane? Say it ain’t so, Joe.
I actually think a LOT of states should have a “None of the Above” option on ballots. I wrote to my state Representative and Senator about that, too.
Arizona Sec of State apparently didn’t get the memo: They cheated(*) to get you in, so you could help them cheat further on other stuff.
I wonder if The Feckless R’s will make any of the obvious hay on Screaming-D’s suing their own. For election shenanigans, Too good. You couldn’t make this us.
“We want to thank the Arizona Screaming-D party for joining us in opposing the corruption and malfeasance around Arizona State elections, and their management. We look forward to their joining us on other, similar issues, from signature verification, to machine and material availability, and of course, ballot counting.
In addition to monitoring the suit, we’ve contributed to the legal fund, and filed motions and findings of fact in support. We stand ready to work with No Labels on this issue; we have this in common.”
/moar popcorn