So, yeah, here's a big heaping helping of "Shut The Fuck Up"

[MADem]

215. Uh....please look at the TOP of the page. The candidate--or his people--have to fill that out.

When the candidate hands in the thousand or whatever signatures and the two thousand bucks filing fee, he's got to fill out another form as well. It's called a consent form and it details how the candidate's name will appear on the ballot (see the 2nd page of that link to the petition form). https://www.sec.state.vt.us/elections/candidates/presidential-candidates.aspx

CONSENT OF CANDIDATE FORM (17 V.S.A. §2702)
PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY ELECTION
Each candidate for office in a Presidential Primary on March 1, 2016, must file a consent form with
the filing officer in order to authorize the printing of his or her name on the primary ballot.
OFFICE WHERE TO FILE
President Vermont Secretary of State
Attn: Elections
128 State Street
Montpelier, VT 05633-1101
Please complete this form carefully. This form is required by law to establish exactly how each candidate’s
name, state of residence, and party will appear on the ballot. The law also requires that each candidate
provide us with a mailing address. You may include initials or nicknames in your name; however, titles (i.e.
Doctor, Esquire, etc.) cannot appear on the ballot. It will be most helpful if you limit your name – including
spaces – to no more than 24 characters.
This form is due in the Office of the Vermont Secretary of State no later than 5:00 p.m. on
MONDAY, January 11, 2016.
I consent to having my name printed on the ballot for the office of:
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
in the State of
VERMONT
My name, state of residence, and party are as follows – exactly as I want it to appear on the ballot:
(PLEASE TYPE OR PRINT CLEARLY)
Name: ______________________________________________
State of residence: ____________________________________
Party: ______________________________________________
Candidate’s signature: ___________________________________________ Date: _____________
Mailing Address:______________________________________

Town, State, Zip:_____________________________________
Daytime phone:______________________________________
Evening/weekend phone: ______________________________

One way or another, on one form or another, Senator Sanders is going to have to fish or cut bait. We will know, when he files these documents, if he's a Democrat, or if he's doing something else. The interview he gave with Wolf Blitzer today after declaring his intent to run makes me wonder--he dodged the specific question about party affiliation when asked. We'll just have to wait and see what he writes on these forms.

Who anoints the delegates, since we're getting into that end of things? VT has very specific rules about gender of delegates, and they also like to see a distribution of races and ethnicities--it's in the Vermont Democratic Party rulebook, there--not the DNC rulebook. The DNC doesn't jump in until the nominating process in Philadelphia.