Arizona may keep Obama off Pres. ballot

[Dalton]

The birther bullshit rears its ugly head once again, even though this asshole claims he's "not a birther". Ken Bennett, AZ Secretary of State, is threatening to keep Obama off the ballot if Hawaii doesn't "answer his request". Huffington Post USA Today

The top elections official in Arizona says it is "possible" President Obama won't be listed on the state's November ballot because of questions about his birth certificate.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett said in a radio interview that he's been trying for eight weeks to verify with the state of Hawaii the facts in Obama's birth certificate.

"I'm not playing to the birthers. I'm not a birther," Bennett told KFYI host Mike Broomhead on Thursday. "I believe the president was born in Hawaii -- at least I hope he was.

"But my responsibility as secretary of State is to make sure the ballots in Arizona are correct and that those people whose names are on the ballot have met the qualifications for the office they are seeking," he said.

[Tribun]

Won't he get ass-raped if he really tries to pull through with this bullshit?

[Mr Bean]

Won't he get ass-raped if he really tries to pull through with this bullshit?

By ass-raped I assume you mean millions in dollars from birthers of which there are at least three millionaires who are on that train.

[Aaron MkII]

Well, cheers to Arizona for giving us another reason to mock them.

[JME2]

Oy vey...

[Darth Fanboy]

Arizona, because Kansas, Florida, and Tennessee haven't done enough to make this country look completely stupid just yet. This reads to me like some halfwit in a state legislature wants fifteen minutes of fame and a headline.

[SirNitram]

Ah, Arizona. Proving against there are places where racist conspiracy theories running free with power.

And yes, I characterize birthers as racists, and see no real exceptions to this rule of thumb yet.

[HMS Conqueror]

Outsiders' perspective, please don't rip my head off - why doesn't Obama just release all the documentation? It seems petty at this point, and it's not exactly unreasonable that someone verifies their credentials to hold the most important office in the country. Or is something else going on here?

[PeZook]

He did release the full birth certificate. The birthers simply claimed there are "serious doubts as to its authenticity", because apparently Hawaian authorities are too incompetent to figure out there's been no Barack Hussein Obama born on the date given in the certificate.

[une]

Outsiders' perspective, please don't rip my head off - why doesn't Obama just release all the documentation? It seems petty at this point, and it's not exactly unreasonable that someone verifies their credentials to hold the most important office in the country. Or is something else going on here?

He has already released his birth certificate. Twice.

Snopes has a pretty decent summary of this whole controversy.

[HMS Conqueror]

Ah, that explains it.

[Lord Zentei]

I'm not playing to the birthers.

Yes you are! You just did it! [/LewisBlack]

This birther bullshit keeps cropping up because stupid people find it easier to use than actually acquainting themselves with the details of any real political, economic or social issues. Additionally this has turned into a rallying point for group-identification among rabid anti-Obama knuckle-draggers, regardless of its actual factual merit, and a placebo created in order to deal with a sense of disillusionment/disenfranchisement among scared racists.

Bottom line, this bullshit will not go away, ever.

[Dalton]

It's also their only hope to undo every law he's signed.

[dragon]

If somehow this gets done and the the ballot is missing him what happens then?

[Chris OFarrell]

Thats actually a good question.

What is the legal process here exactly if they did claim they have serious dobuts and keep his name off the paper in this horrible excuse for an election system the US has?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

A suit in federal court. I'd argue that the army should be mobilized to occupy Arizona as in secession from the lawful government of the United States, but that's just because I'd find it hilarious to see the state put under martial law. In reality, this will be settled quickly and efficiently by the courts, and there's nothing to be concerned about, it will be quashed like a bug even by conservative justices.

[Akhlut]

If somehow this gets done and the the ballot is missing him what happens then?

It's electoral college votes amount to ten, so, even if the Democrats stay off the ballot (unlikely, as there are small parties in the US that regularly field different candidates in different states for the same party in the same election), it probably wouldn't amount to much.

Assuming, of course, that the electors don't simply vote for Obama in protest (I'm not sure of the exact legality of that, as each state has a different process for its electoral college).

[Omega18]

If somehow this gets done and the the ballot is missing him what happens then?

It's electoral college votes amount to ten, so, even if the Democrats stay off the ballot (unlikely, as there are small parties in the US that regularly field different candidates in different states for the same party in the same election), it probably wouldn't amount to much.

Assuming, of course, that the electors don't simply vote for Obama in protest (I'm not sure of the exact legality of that, as each state has a different process for its electoral college).

The idea this would actually be allowed is preposterous, especially when Arizona could at least remotely plausibly be competitive this year with its growing Hispanic population. As noted, a lawsuit in court would subject the Secretary of State to having to demonstrate he both has the power to do this, and even more problematically that he has sufficient evidence to do so given a copy of Obama's long birth certificate has previously been presented publicly, and the State of Hawaii has previously certified they have an authentic copy in their records. (Essentially the Secretary of State would have to prove in court why he has such compelling evidence to leave Obama off the ballot rather than the other way around. His action might be thrown out on the spot before considering any other issue unless he similar investigated the birth locations of the other candidates in the race, with them having to provide a birth certificate potentially a real burden for some of the more obscure candidates rather than the main ones, which would raise its own legal issues.)

The idea the electors would do that by the way is not realistic, especially given the Republicans could actually pick a bunch of electors who are all birthers if they wanted to.

[bilateralrope]

A suit in federal court. I'd argue that the army should be mobilized to occupy Arizona as in secession from the lawful government of the United States, but that's just because I'd find it hilarious to see the state put under martial law. In reality, this will be settled quickly and efficiently by the courts, and there's nothing to be concerned about, it will be quashed like a bug even by conservative justices.

Lets say Arizona waits until the last possible moment to reveal they plan to leave Obama off the ballot. Will the courts be able to move quickly enough to fix it before the election ?

[Tribun]

A suit in federal court. I'd argue that the army should be mobilized to occupy Arizona as in secession from the lawful government of the United States, but that's just because I'd find it hilarious to see the state put under martial law. In reality, this will be settled quickly and efficiently by the courts, and there's nothing to be concerned about, it will be quashed like a bug even by conservative justices.

Lets say Arizona waits until the last possible moment to reveal they plan to leave Obama off the ballot. Will the courts be able to move quickly enough to fix it before the election ?

Let's say that happens, wouldn't it actually cause undecided people in other states to vote for Obama in light of this very obvious illegal tactic?

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Let's say that happens, wouldn't it actually cause undecided people in other states to vote for Obama in light of this very obvious illegal tactic?

No. Between general apathy and not caring what goes on in some other idiot state, it's not going to sway much of anyone.

[Captain Seafort]

Let's say that happens, wouldn't it actually cause undecided people in other states to vote for Obama in light of this very obvious illegal tactic?

Or it would cause the opposite to happen, given that the very fact that a state was leaving him off proves that he's obviously ineligible to be President.

For anyone with a dodgy sarcasmometre: the above is it.

[Haruko]

Doesn't Arizona have prison overcrowding to worry about?

[Omega18]

Lets say Arizona waits until the last possible moment to reveal they plan to leave Obama off the ballot. Will the courts be able to move quickly enough to fix it before the election ?

In a circumstance like this absolutely. A federal court would hold a quickly expedited hearing and basically issue an injunction immediately after the hearing against Arizona doing so under such circumstances. Something important like this with a Presidential election (its actually in key respects substantially more time critical than Bush v. Gore in 2000) would be a textbook case where the court would need to act quickly and issue such an injunction. The mere fact Arizona waited so long would basically give the court the justification to take this position, with the related argument being far greater harm would potentially occur if he is on some ballots but those votes ultimately hypothetically speaking don't count if Obama is shown to be ineligible in the court case than if he's not on the ballot at all. (This is at least the reasoning which would make this an incredibly easy case for any court to decide with regards to rapidly issuing an injunction.)

To be clear, Arizona like essentially every state has absentee voting including for the military, so this would be the cutoff point when the Arizona Secretary of State would realistically have to issue a decision before the ballots are printed. Practically the moment the Arizona Secretary of State announcements such a lawsuit, a lawsuit would be filed and an injunction would be filed prior to when the ballots are actually set out, which would specifically bar Arizona from doing so and presumably require them to send out ballots with Obama's name. While there is now ordinarily a time limit for sending out such ballots, judges have waived this limit in cases somewhat similar to this where there was a last minute issue with the ballot. Any attempt to take Obama off later would lead to an injunction faster than the Secretary of State could blink. (Its simply don't going to be plausible that Arizona could not have handled things after the fact by potentially certifying Romney's selected electors as the ones chose by the state if it could truly be proven that Obama is not a naturally born U.S. citizen and this evidence surfaced at practically the last moment. Since there is a significant delay from the start of November "the Monday after the second Wednesday" in December, there is time for the legal issues to be potentially resolved after the fact, a delay beyond this potentially possible if necessary.)

[The Yosemite Bear]

hey who wants to go to Az dressed up in all black, with ray ban sunglasses and threaten random folks....