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EspañolJeremy Walters, Libertarian Party candidate running for a state House seat in South Carolina, has successfully managed to get himself included on the ballot after a favorable ruling by the state Supreme Court. The judges authorized his participation in the election on account of his nomination through a party convention, and not by a costly primary process.
According to the new South Carolina election law, Act 61, political parties must get approval from other parties to nominate candidates through a convention, but the Republican Party currently dominates the state legislature. In an awkward turn of events for the Libertarian Party, though, the South Carolina Election Commission straight up denied the Libertarian Party a primary on the grounds that the party could not afford it, so the Libertarian party took the case to the Supreme Court.
The Libertarian Party asked the state Supreme Court for permission to conduct their primaries, but the ruling decided instead to grant them ballot access just by means of a convention. The party had always elected their nominees this way, the judges reasoned.
“It wasn’t about having a primary. It was about telling the state of South Carolina that you don’t have any right to tell me whether I can have a convention or a primary,” Walters told BenSwann.
With the court’s decision, not only will the Libertarian party have access to the ballot, but other third parties in the same situation will as well.
Source: BenSwann.
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