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Thursday, August 13, 2009

Federal Court Upholds South Carolina’s Method of Restricting Fusion


On August 12, U.S. District Court Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, a Clinton appointee, upheld South Carolina election laws that permit fusion, but which also say that if someone gets the nomination of one party first, and later tries to get the nomination of a second party and fails, then the first nomination is voided. South Carolina Green Party v South Carolina State Election Commission, 3:08-cv-02790.

The plaintiff-candidate, Eugene Platt, had been nominated first for a legislative seat in 2008 by the Green Party. Then he tried to win the Democratic primary for the same seat, but he lost, so the state wouldn’t let him appear on the November ballot as the Green Party nominee. The decision says the burden on the Green Party was not severe, since the state would have let it choose another nominee. Here is the decision.


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