To the Editor,

A ruling Wednesday by a Federal judge in North Carolina should put one of West Virginia Republican Party Chairman Melody Potter’s concerns to rest. Melody had said she was concerned that a ruling by the West Virginia Supreme Court allowing me access to the fall election ballot would cause West Virginia to be a “legal outlier.” Melody should find comfort in the fact that a Federal Judge’s ruling to allow three “sore loser” candidates on the ballot in North Carolina is nearly directly on point with Constitution Party of West Virginia Candidate, Don Blankenship’s case.

In North Carolina, the state Legislature, much like West Virginia, enacted a “sore loser” law in June that would have prevented the three Constitution Party candidates from appearing on the ballot in the November general election. All three candidates had previously lost in the primary election held in May two in the Republican primary and one in the Democratic primary. The judge held that the retroactive application of the “sore loser” law to the Constitution Party candidates violated their rights and said that the court was unaware “of any legislation that has been found constitutionally sound when enacted during an election cycle that disqualifies previously qualifying candidates from appearing on the fall ballot.”

Robert Bastress, constitutional law professor at West Virginia University School of Law is representing Mr. Blankenship in this action.

Phil Hudok

Constitution Party of West Virginia