Can Independent Bernie Sanders Run as a Democrat in State Primaries?

While Sanders caucuses with Democrats in the Senate, the independent senator may have trouble qualifying for the Democratic ballot in New Hampshire. State law makes clear that candidates must be registered members of the party on whose ballot line they wish to appear. So why can't he simply change his registration in his home state from independent to Democrat. The answer is that Vermont doesn't have a party registration system, so he can't.

Tennessee and Texas also do not register voters by party. But Gore and Bush were each able to show that they had appeared on ballots as a Democrat and Republican, respectively. Sanders, on the other hand, won the Democratic Primary in Vermont, but he declined the nomination and asked that his name not appear on the general election ballot as a Democrat.

Other states that does not ask for a party selection on the registration form:
Hawaii
Indiana
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Ohio
South Carolina
Virgina
Wisconsin
Washington

In New York he would need the permission of the State Democratic Party to run in the Democratic Primary. A section of state election law known as Wilson-Pakula prohibits candidates from appearing on the ballot in a party’s primary unless they are either enrolled members or receive the approval of the party’s committee.

Richard Winger, wrote on his website Ballot Access News that this is not the case, since voters actually elect delegates, not the nominees themselves. He cited the example of Lyndon LaRouche, the independent political candidate who appeared on New York primary ballots in 2000 and 2004, despite having been publicly disowned by the Democratic Party.

Since Winger's article was published, New York Democratic B.O.E. commissioner Doug Kellner said that he agrees with the author's line of reasoning.

“Indeed, it would be impossible to apply the statute to presidential primaries because many states do not have formal party enrollment or a mechanism to determine a person’s formal membership in a party,” he said.

At least one of the various bills that have been introduced in recent weeks laying out the rules for next year’s primary would give the commissioners of the B.O.E. the power to decide which members of their party will appear on the ballot. As such, Kellner would likely have significant authority to decide what happens to Sanders.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker