MN Supreme Court schedules hearing on Gutknecht and Kiffmeyer ballot challenges on Tuesday

Posted at 2:02 PM on August 17, 2006 by Tom Scheck (1 Comments)

The Minnesota Supreme Court says they will hear arguments on a lawsuit challenging GOP Congressman to Gil Gutknecht's right to remain on the ballot on Tuesday at 9 AM. A D-F-L lawsuit says Gutknecht should be removed from the ballot because they say most of the petition signatures he presented in place of the filing fee were gathered before the period specified by the state. You can read more of the story here.

The court will also hear Brian Smith's petition to get on the September primary ballot on Tuesday. Smith, an Independence Party candidate for a legislative seat, says Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer should have told him he was filing in the wrong place. Smith filed at the Secretary of State's office instead of the Hennepin County Government Center. You can read more about the story here...

Comments (1)

In both cases, these candidates should not be on the ballot. The law is clear about when signatures can be collected for nominating petitions. Having sucessfully followed the law without the benefit of an attorney (collected signatures to get on for State Rep. 58a), I cannot understand how these candidates were unable to read the provisions.

Then again, if they relied on materials from the Secretary of State's office, it is understandable. I expected to be eligible for public subsidy payments, as I filed a public subsidy agreement and haven't violated spending limits, which is what the secretary of state's candidate guide states are the requirements. It isn't mentioned there that only major party candidates are eligible for direct subsidy payments. One has to actually read the statute to find that out.

Hopefully, the court will not only uphold the rule of law but also deliver a victory for the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection to minor party and independent candidates, striking down the other provisions of our campaign laws which treat citizens differently according to their membership in a group.

Potentially, the court could even decide that Major Party status generally, under which non-governmental entities are given the power to administrate the manner of elections through nomination powers, is unconstitutional under the guarantee to a republican form of government.

I'm curious if Secretary of State Kiffmeyer could be struck from the ballot for violating the MN fair campaign practices act when she accepted the invalid petition. One of the provisions of our code stipulates that a violation of any section, unless otherwise noted, requires the candidate to forfit nomination and bars the candidate from being appointed to the post.

Posted by Justin C. Adams | August 18, 2006 10:07 AM

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