Nebraska judge says Democrats not required to replace dropout candidate on ballot

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Merry Go - Distressed

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Mike from Vancouver, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

A Nebraska judge ruled Wednesday that the state Democratic Party has discretion not to fill a Senate ballot vacancy after its nominee, Cindy Burbank, dropped out in July following her May primary win.

Lancaster District Court Judge Susan Strong sided with Democrats over failed candidate William Forbes, who sued to force the party to field a name against independent Dan Osborn and Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts. Forbes, who took just 10% of the primary vote against Burbank, argued the withdrawal was a scheme to clear the field for Osborn.

Strong found the relevant statute uses permissive language, meaning parties may fill vacancies but need not. Nebraska Democratic chair Jane Kleeb cast the ruling as a defeat for Forbes and, by her account, Ricketts and unnamed 'MAGA billionaires' behind him.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A registered Democrat suing his own party to make it run a candidate it doesn't want, on behalf of a race it might rather lose gracefully, is the kind of civic drama only a ballot deadline could produce. The party gets to have it both ways — keep its line on principle, skip the awkward part where it fields someone against a candidate it prefers. Everyone insists this is about democracy; nobody involved seems to disagree that it's actually about arithmetic.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Merry Go - Distressed · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

Read it scored.

Every story, every clown, every kazoo — in your pocket. Music plays automatically. Regret is optional.

GET IT ON iOS GET IT ON ANDROID