Candidates suing state, say deadline changed
by Bill Lodge
The Baton Rouge Advocate
Tuesday, 16 September 2008

Baton Rouge, Louisiana: When Hurricane Gustav blew out the lights in Baton Rouge and closed state offices the first week of September, it also interrupted candidate filings in the presidential race.

And that generated a federal lawsuit by fringe candidates for the nation's highest office.

The deadline for presidential candidate filings with Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne was Sept. 2, and Dardenne did not reopen his office until Sept. 8.

Presidential and vice presidential candidates of the Libertarian Party and Socialist Party USA sued Dardenne in federal court Monday, arguing he arbitrarily declared on Sept. 8 that his office would not accept candidate filings after 5 p.m. that day.

Libertarian headliners Bob Barr and Wayne Root, along with Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander, who carry the banner of the Socialist Party USA, argue in a suit that Dardenne's actions unfairly denied them access to Louisiana's ballot for the Nov. 4 election.

"Only the Democratic and Republican candidates for president met this new deadline," the Libertarians and Socialists argue in their court filings.

Dardenne and his staff would not comment on that allegation Monday.

"We don't comment on lawsuits that have yet to be served on us," said Jacques Berry, Dardenne's press secretary. "And when we do get served, we won't comment on litigation in progress."

The Baton Rouge lawsuit was filed for the Libertarians and Socialists by Mark R. Brown, a lawyer in Columbus, Ohio.

Brown wrote the Libertarians and Socialists, along with the Green Party and Constitution Party, won a court order this year to place their presidential candidates on the ballot in Ohio.

No hurricane had torn through Ohio, but Brown wrote the 6th U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in 2006 the state's early filing deadline for minor parties was invalid.

No new deadline had been established by the Ohio Legislature.

"State administrative officials cannot regulate federal elections," Brown argues in the Baton Rouge suit.

"Because of Hurricane Gustav and the evacuation ... plaintiffs could not and did not meet this deadline," the Libertarians and Socialists say in that suit.

They're asking U.S. District Judge James J. Brady to rule in their favor.

"The ballots have not, to plaintiffs' knowledge, been printed."

This article can be found online at www.theadvocate.com. Journalist Bill Lodge can be reached at blodge@theadvocate.com.