After the Minnesota Republican Party waited until the last minute to get their party’s presidential nominee on the ballot, the state’s Democrats filed a legal challenge late Thursday arguing that the way Republicans placed Donald Trump on the ballot violated election rules.
In a lawsuit filed with the state Supreme Court, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party contends that Trump and his running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, should be pulled off the ballot.
Late last month, Minnesota residents who looked up a sample ballot online were stunned to find that Trump was nowhere to be found just two business days from the secretary of state’s deadline for major parties to get their tickets on the ballot. By the next day, state party officials were scrambling.
Under Minnesota state statutes, major parties need to supply the name of the party’s presidential and vice presidential nominees, the names of ten nominated electors and ten alternate electors in order to officially get their candidates on the ballot. As the Washington Post reported, the Minnesota GOP elected its electoral college members – the ones who actually cast the ballot – at its state convention in May, but forgot to elect alternate electors.
To rectify the problem, the state party held a last-minute meeting to select the alternates, a process the Democrats say violated election law. Minnesota’s secretary of state accepted the certification, and Trump was ultimately added to the ballot.
In its petition, the DFL writes that the state GOP’s alternate electors aren’t valid because the executive committee, rather than delegates at the convention, chose them. The petition notes that “the executive committee is obviously not a ‘delegate convention.’”
“It is incumbent upon political parties to follow the rules binding our elections and in this instance it does not appear that the Minnesota Republican Party did so,” DFL chair Ken Martin said in a statement about the filing.
The state GOP did not respond to local media requests for comment.
As the Pioneer Press notes, the Minnesota Supreme Court has a good record of resolving election matters quickly. Early in-person voting in the state begins on Sept. 23.
Read the full complaint below:
Wow, this would be great if it works…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmlnltVzksgThere’s probably not a hope in hell, but good for the DFL for trying.
It probably won’t
But they definitely deserve credit for making the attempt. The entire MN ballot kerfluffle was yet another example of EXTREME incompetence in the nuts and bolts that actually matter of running a campaign.
even if this works, Trump was never going to win MN anyway. But it could keep some Trump cultists from showing up to vote for down-ballot races. I’ll never understand how it is that so many voters don’t understand that the local politicians can have a more direct effect on their lives than the president can.
Not that a Supreme Court would ever get political, but it’s a nice ratio…
The current justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court are:
Justice Tenure Selected by
Chief Justice Lorie Gildea 2006-2019 Gov. Tim Pawlenty ®
Associate Justice Barry Anderson 2004-2019 Gov. Tim Pawlenty ®
Associate Justice Natalie Hudson 2015-2017 Gov. Mark Dayton (D)
Associate Justice Anne K. McKeig 2016-2019 Gov. Mark Dayton (D)
Associate Justice David Stras 2010-2019 Gov. Tim Pawlenty ®
Associate Justice Margaret Chutich 2016-2019 Gov. Mark Dayton (D)
Associate Justice David Lillehaug 2013-2021 Gov. Mark Dayton (D)