Today is the deadline for submitting petition signatures for independent presidential candidates for the fall ballot in Ohio. The Libertarian Party of Ohio submitted their ticket's paperwork yesterday. But the party is using an unusual strategy to do that.
Tuesday afternoon, Ohio Libertarian Party Chairman Robert Bridges stood outside the Secretary of State鈥檚 office. With him were volunteers who had petition signatures in boxes that were plastered with Johnson for President stickers. Bridges said 7000 valid petition signatures, two thousand more than needed, would be submitted to get the names Gary Johnson and William Weld on the November statewide ballot.鈥淥ur presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate has the most executive experience out of the other two candidates running. Two two term Governors in the state of New Mexico and Massachusetts.鈥�
Joshua Eck at the Secretary of State鈥檚 office says when employees opened the boxes to process the petitions, they were surprised by the name listed as the presidential candidate.
鈥淲e have received about six boxes of petitions, all for Charlie Earl to run for president as an independent in Ohio.鈥�
Charlie Earl was the Libertarian Party of Ohio's candidate for governor in 2014. His name didn't appear on the ballot after a lawsuit and an investigation into problems with his petitions. Earl explains there鈥檚 a good reason why these presidential petitions were submitted with his name and not Johnson鈥檚. It all boils down to a federal court suit that鈥檚 still under consideration over a new state law involving minor parties.
鈥淚f we jump the gun and put Gary and Bill on now as Independents, then if the court were to restore the Libertarian party to the ballot, they couldn鈥檛 run as Libertarians.鈥�
Earl says Ohio鈥檚 so called 鈥渟ore loser law鈥�, which prevents candidates from appearing on the ballot as a candidate more than once in an election season, could be used as a way to prevent that if Johnson and Weld were already on the ballot as Independents.
鈥淲e thought it best to take the path of least resistance, cover all of the bases. Well in other words, in political terms, we call it CYA.鈥�
So Earl says he and Ken Moellman from Kentucky will be stand in candidates for now. Earl says he鈥檚 hoping that ruling comes sooner rather than later.
鈥淭he sooner the court decides, the less angst we go through and the fewer mimosas and Bloody Marys that are consumed by Libertarians and politicians throughout Ohio.鈥�
The whole situation is confusing for sure. Libertarian Party of Ohio spokesman Aaron Keith Harris admits that. But he says the people who signed those petitions knew the strategy that is being used.
鈥淚 know it is confusing. In fact, I had to explain to the guy who changed my tires in Dayton because I got him to sign. He said 鈥極h yea, that鈥檚 pretty complicated but I鈥檓 voting for Gary.鈥欌��
Harris says the petition with Earl鈥檚 name on it has been the one his group has been working with for months now. When asked why reporters who went to the Secretary of State鈥檚 office when the petitions were filed were told nothing about this strategy, Harris says there was no intent to mislead anyone.
鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 been a secret. Present company excepted, Jo, most reporters when you try to explain to them more than one thing at once, their eyes go crossed. So if they didn鈥檛 do their homework and look at the petition and haven鈥檛 been up on the process, then that鈥檚 on them.鈥�
Harris points to Ohio鈥檚 law regarding replacing candidates before elections and says this can and has been done before. Eck at the Republican Secretary of State鈥檚 office says they will work on certifying these petitions but he says this is unusual.
鈥淲e are not aware of any time in Ohio history where a candidate has filed petitions to run for president then asked for someone else's name to be put on the ballot and should that be the case here, our office is going to need time to review the legality of that in state law.鈥�
Many political pundits are saying this election has been the most unusual in modern day history. This filing just adds one more reason to the list. A new Quinnipiac Poll shows 8% of likely Ohio voters say they plan to vote for Gary Johnson.
Copyright 2021 WYSO. To see more, visit . 9(MDA5NTM4MTIyMDE0MTg3NDc2MTVlZjdmNQ001))