Thank to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News for this post.
In United States politics, a Sore-Loser law is a law which states that the loser in a Primary election cannot then run as an independent in the General election.
Rocky De La Fuente is being kept off the November ballot in three states: Alabama, Arkansas, where no court challenges have been filed, and Pennsylvania, because of State laws on “Sore Losers” and prior affiliation with a Major Party.
The pending case in Pennsylvania is on the same issues, although the Pennsylvania case does not involve a State that has contradicted itself in the past over whether Presidential Primaries are covered by Sore Loser laws.
The Pennsylvania case is De La Fuente v Cortes, m.d., 1:16cv-1696. It has a Status Conference on October 31, 2016, far too late to restore De La Fuente to the ballot, but a vehicle for resolving the issue.
Article II of the U.S. Constitution makes it utterly clear that the candidates in November, for States that choose to allow popular voting for President, are the candidates for Presidential Elector.
In the early years of the 20th Century, this was obvious to everyone, because General election ballots listed all the candidates for Presidential Elector, and voters could vote for individual candidates for elector. Thus voters could even split their tickets, and express support for more than a single Presidential candidate.
Another issue is whether the U.S. Supreme Court decision U.S. Term Limits v Thornton, from 1995, means that Sore Loser laws for Federal office are unconstitutional for candidates for President and Congress.
In most states, these laws do not apply to Presidential candidates.
There are no sore loser laws in Arizona, Delaware, New York, Oklahoma and West Virginia.
In Virginia, State law stipulates that "if a candidate is defeated in the primary, his name is not to be printed on the ballots for that office in the succeeding general election."
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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