ACLU Mass. files lawsuit for Libertarian candidate to appear on Nov. ballot

The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts has filed a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Elections Division seeking to ensure the Libertarian presidential nominee appears on the November ballot in Massachusetts.

At issue is whether state election officials allow the Libertarian party to substitute Bob Barr and Wayne Root, its nominees for president and vice president, in place of George Phillies, a Massachusetts Libertarian that sought his party's nomination, on the November ballot. In July of 2007, Phillies asked officials if the Libertarian nominee could be substituted for his name on the ballot because he had to begin gathering  the requisite number of signatures well before the Libertarians May 25 convention where its nominee would be chosen.

"The central issue in this case is the restriction of ballot access for third parties, which has been and continues to be a problem in Massachusetts," John Reinstein, Legal Director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement.

When Phillies failed to garner the nomination at the convention, he contacted election officials asking to substitute Barr's name for his on the ballot. On June 5, the ACLU said, the elections division denied the request and said Barr could not rely on the signatures Phillies had already collected. The Libertarian Party, the officials said according to the ACLU, would have to repeat the signature gathering process for Barr to appear on the ballot.

Recollecting the signatures is difficult for third party candidates, said Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. "Requiring smaller political parties to re-gather signatures for their final nominees is a significant and burdensome expense and thus serves as a barrier to their full participation in the electoral process," she said. "We urge the Massachusetts Elections Division to ensure the right to vote by returning to its prior stance of allowing substitution of the final nominees on the ballot."

Reinstein added that a candidate's right to appear on the ballot strikes at the core principles of American democracy.

"The right of political parties or candidates to a place on the ballot bears directly on the right of citizens to vote.  If parties or candidates are kept off the ballot, their adherents are compelled to vote for representatives other than those of their choice," he said.  "The denial of a place on the ballot thus constitutes a deprivation of the franchise."