Andrew Sullivan: Another Florida

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Thursday, October 03, 2002 ANOTHER FLORIDA: Here we go again. We have the plain meaning of the law: "In the event of a vacancy, howsoever caused, among candidates nominated at primaries, which vacancy shall occur not later than the 51st day before the general election." And we have the desire of one party to get around the plain meaning of the law, by appealing to the Courts. I'm indebted to Jonathan Adler for filling me in on the slender reed whereby New Jersey's Supreme Court got to put Frank Lautenberg's name on the ballot. It's Catania v. Haberle 588 A.2d 374 (1990), where the Court ruled that "providing the public with a choice between candidates is one of the most important objectives of our election laws." The small print: "[t]he general rule applied to the interpretation of our election laws is that absent some public interest sufficiently strong to permit the conclusion that the Legislature intended strict enforcement, statutes providing requirements for a candidate's name to appear on the ballot will not be construed so as to deprive the voters of the opportunity to make a choice." On these grounds, the Court ruled that if voters went into a polling station and found Torricelli's name still on the ballot, and no other Democrat's, they would have no reasonable choice. I have two obvious problems with this. The first is the reason for Torricelli's absence. He didn't withdraw because he was sick, or because he had a change of heart, or because of family reasons. He withdrew entirely because he couldn't win. More accurately, he withdrew because his loss would ensure his party might not win. So this absence on the ballot has been deliberately contrived by one of the parties for reasons that are far larger even than New Jersey. By acceding to it, the Court seems to me to have invited any number of possible future abuses by either party: if you're losing, withdraw and get a new candidate. Imagine if every election cycle, the national parties get to yank one or two candidates from around the country at the last minute if they think it will give them an edge. The result would be many opportunities for chicanery, chaos and confusion.

MAJOR PARTY PRIVILEGE: My second objection is equally obvious: there is still a choice without the Torch. There are other minor party candidates for whom non-Forrester supporters could vote. And there's a write-in possibility that could be used by the Democrats. The Court ruling seems to me to assume that the only valid choice is between Democrats and Republicans as printed on a ballot, a preposterous idea that insults other parties, other views and the voters' intelligence. At the same time, I'm not sure it's wise for the GOP to take this legal battle further. The decay of judicial reasoning that this ruling again shows cannot be rectified by going to the Supreme Court, which has been damaged enough by being dragged into partisan disputes. Forrester should instead make this a part of his election message: an end to the abuse of judicial authority, and the ruthlessness of the Democrats in trying to keep power even if it means bending the law. Besides, the Democrats are already about to pounce on any Supreme Court ruling that might go against them by using it to whip up the hysteria among minorities that they exploited in Florida. I trust the voters of New Jersey to see what the game is here. They should vote for Forrester, if that's what they want, for the same reason now as before: to punish those who break or twist the law for the pursuit of power. That should be the principled Republican position: take it to the voters. And let the Court's expansive reasoning discredit itself.

-- Anonymous, October 03, 2002


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