Deal lets Green Party pick on Arizona presidential ballot
Jul 19, 2016, 7:24 PM
(Facebook Photo)
(Facebook Photo)
PHOENIX — Arizona Secretary of State Michele Reagan and the Arizona Green Party have struck a deal allowing the party’s presidential candidate on the November ballot despite the party’s failure to file its nomination papers for Electoral College delegates on time.
The party and Reagan asked a federal judge earlier this week to enter an injunction requiring Reagan to accept the electors’ nomination papers.
Voters technically choose presidential electors in the general election and they choose the next president. The Green Party’s candidate is Jill Stein.
Happy the court approved our agreement that allows us to accept the presidential electors after the deadline. https://t.co/BcgIajUcfc
— Michele Reagan (@SecretaryReagan) July 19, 2016
Reagan said last month that the party missed the June 1 deadline and she saw no legal way around the deadline requirement. The Green Party then sued.
“Over the last few weeks we’ve been working with the Green Party to find a solution,” said Secretary Reagan in a statement. “As we said from the start, we could not find any statutory authority to waive that deadline or accept late nomination papers. We now can move forward and accept their electors and place their presidential candidate on the ballot.”
The Green Party is the smallest of Arizona’s four recognized political parties with about 4,500 members.
Reagan also released on Tuesday the names of the first presidential candidates officially on Arizona’s ballot from the Libertarian Party. Gary Johnson is a candidate for president while Bill Weld is a candidate for vice president.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
