Ruth Johnson Denies Presidential Candidate Ballot Access

June 9, 2012 - PRLog -- -Troy, MI

The Libertarian Party of Michigan has retained legal counsel since they have been informed they will be denied ballot access in this year’s presidential election.  The Libertarians have made several attempts to contact the office of Ruth Johnson (Secretary of State) and Christopher M. Thomas (Director of Elections) only to be denied ballot access for former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson.

Gary Johnson ran in the Republican primary and withdrew his pursuit of the Republican nomination in December of 2011.  Gary Johnson was excluded from most Republican presidential debates and decided to seek the Libertarian nomination because all of the Republican Party presidential candidates -- except for Ron Paul -- have a track record of voting for higher levels of government spending.

Gary Johnson, the national Libertarian Party presidential nominee, was on the ballot in the February 2012 Republican presidential primary ballot in Michigan. The Secretary of State is interpreting Michigan law to mean that, therefore, the Libertarian Party is forbidden to nominate Johnson.

The Libertarian Party of Michigan hand-delivered the nomination to the Secretary of State office on Monday, June 4th.  The party’s documents certify that the presidential elector candidates are pledged to Gary Johnson who lives in New Mexico and is our candidate pending a legal challenge. But the party’s documents also say that if the Secretary of State sticks to her position of refusing to allow that, and if no court intervenes, then in that case the party’s presidential elector candidates are pledged to Gary E. Johnson of Austin, Texas.

Denee Rockman-Moon (Libertarian State Chair) stated  “The Libertarian party of Michigan legally elected Gary Johnson as our candidate. Governor Gary Johnson is our candidate pending a legal challenge. The Libertarians are the party of principle and we are starting to wonder what happened to Ruth Johnson’s principles.”  


- Contact Information
- media@ michiganlp.org
Michael Moon / Media Director
- 810-241-5801
Sources – Ballot Access News (Richard Winger)