Pataki’s Ballot High Jinks

Governor George E. Pataki and his cohort, Governor George W. Bush, ought to be ashamed of their attempted ballotteering in New York. Fortunately, an alert federal judge stymied their attempt to keep Senator John McCain off of the ballot for the Republican primary in that state and sufficiently embarrassed the culprits.

Governor Pataki’s attempt to prevent Senator McCain’s name from appearing on the ballot because of obscure signature-collecting regulations is nothing new. He has pulled this maneuver before, preventing all Republican contenders, save party favorite Bob Dole, from appearing on the primary ballot in 1996. Governor Pataki has consistently refused to enact fair primary laws, such as those in California and Connecticut, which automatically recognize all major candidates for office, and put their names on the ballot.

Fortunately for voters, Judge Edward R. Korman of the US District Court in Brooklyn overruled Governor Pataki’s attempt at rigging the ballot in favor of his buddy, Governor Bush. Judge Korman decided the case on Constitutional grounds, arguing that the arcane signature-gathering regulations in New York violate the spirit of the First Amendment.

The Constitution itself is concerned less with enumerating particular rights and freedoms, and more with establishing a framework of government that is open and democratic. Some constitutional scholars argue that the best interpretation of the Constitution is one that concerns itself primarily with democratic processes, and ensuring that those processes are free and open to the people.

Governor Pataki’s attempt to fix the ballot in favor of Governor Bush violates the very spirit of democracy. By preventing Senator McCain and others from having their names on the ballot in New York, Governor Pataki would have been effectively denying New Yorkers their most important right — the vote.

D.V.W.