Trump could be left off some states' ballots in 2020 if these bills become law

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. Many of those cases had to do with unduly burdensome signature requirements.

Last edited Wed Mar 20, 2019, 07:50 PM - Edit history (1)

It's pretty hard to claim that disclosing tax returns would be unduly burdensome to anyone (I could turn over mine tomorrow). I think the Thornton case can be distinguished because in that case the court regarded term limits as imposing a hard qualification (not a ballot access requirement) - that is, a candidate for Congress (not the presidency, which wasn't addressed) who'd already served two terms couldn't run again, period. If, however, a candidate can get on the ballot simply by producing his tax returns, that's just a question of ballot access, like getting a certain number of signatures, meeting time deadlines or paying a filing fee. It's not a qualification in the same sense as being a natural-born citizen, which can't be fixed; it's an easily-curable matter of meeting ballot access requirements. I look at it as the difference between being something (e.g., 35, a natural-born citizen, or someone who's already had two terms) and doing something (e.g., collecting a certain number of signatures or releasing your tax returns).