Talk Elections

Arizona Official Suggests Obama Could Be Off Ballot

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett (R) told KFYI he's not entirely convinced President Obama was really born in the United States and suggested he could be knocked off the state's presidential ballot.

Said Bennett: "I'm not a birther. I believe the president was born in Hawaii -- or at least I hope he was. But my responsibility as secretary of state is to make sure the ballots in Arizona are correct and that those people whose names are on the ballot have met the qualifications for the office they are seeking."

Bennett said he has been trying to get officials in Hawaii to verify the president's birth certificate for the last eight weeks.

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/05/18/arizona_official_suggests_obama_could_be_off_ballot.html#047993a

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Joke state.

Joke state, sure. But It's a smart way to stir up the anti-immigration base in Arizona. There's no way Obama's name will be left off the ballot.

LOL. Obama breaks 400 if this happens.

"Likely"?

I will give you 100 to 1 odds Obama is on the Ballot in Arizona.

Did that Bennett guy already obtain Romney's birth certificate as well? For all we know, Romney could actually hail from Tijuana.

"I'm not a birther, but yeah, I'm basically a birther."

Likely? Don't blow this way out of proportion. It's obvious he's just trying to stir something up - he's not going to go through with it.

He''ll have a talkin to by someone in high power and change the story arouund and dismiss it like most people do.

joke state lol

If this were to happen, it would be hilarious

That would either be the US Supreme Court or the Attorney General if the United States.

They won't remove his name, if they ever do try his campaign will ruthlessly convince them otherwise until they stop.

And the backlash would actually help the Dems.

Well, even if this guy removes Obama from the ballot, I imagine some judge would take about 3 seconds to override that.

If that were to happen, expect this map.  99.9% that will not happen.

A Democrat's wet dream

Obama - 510
Romney - 28

()

"Hope he was?"

trololol

Didn't Hawaii ask him for documentation to prove that he's actually the Arizona Secretary of State?

lol @ the idea that an official of some other state doing this will cause a massive swing in other states

I fail to see how this would affect results elsewhere, at least as... wildly as you state.

Is the guy really "likely" to remove the name?  He's following the guidelines of his job, but not exercising his brain... freaking bureaucrats.  Also, why can't the POTUS get his crap together, seriously this is a weird tactic of making himself the victim of himself.   

It's a bit hard to prove that you are not a camel. I suggest you try :))

This map won't happen unless Romney crowns himself king of the Mormons and says all non-believers should be persecuted.

Why would you wait 3 to 6+ years to let anyone see your birth certification ? ?  It should have been produced in 2007 not 2011.  The only thing I can come up with to explain the lag time is trying to be a victim.  It wouldn't be surprising considering that it was either the Hillary or Obama campaign that started the birther thing in the dem primary.          

I hate to get sucked into this Birther Black Hole but didn't Obama release his Certificate of Live Birth in 2007?

I wanna see Mitts long form Birth Certificate.

If I remember right, there were a lot of things about that Certificate of Live Birth that didn't exactly click. Isn't that what started the birther crap in the first place? The fact that the documentation he provided was... questionable?

And I know it's a double-standard. But Obama shouldn't have waited this long. If there was as much demand for Mitt's birth certificate, I'm sure he would've quickly caved in (i.e., his tax returns).

You don't.

Fair enough. I was a PUMA at the time, so who knows what bullsh**t I was lapping up.

A bit off topic, but why the hell do US states have partisan elected officials in charge of administering partisan elections anyway?

People running for these positions have found it useful to attach themselves to a party to help them get elected and to seek the other offices they view this as a stepping stone for.

I wonder if another candidate would promise his/her electors to Obama in exchange for influence/notoriety if Obama were dropped from the AZ ballot.

Very legitimate question. And unheard of in other Western countries.

Basically the answer to a lot of things about America.

it needs to be an elected office so the public can hold them accountable somewhat and elections inevitably become somewhat political.  Often, non partisan race candidates are quasi-affiliated with a party anyway.
   

No. The Certificate of Live Birth was a perfectly legitimate birth certificate and is exactly the document you get in the state of Hawaii if you request a copy of your birth certificate. So obviously the birthers declared it a fake. That's when the birthers began calling for the release of the so-called "long-form" birth certificate. After that, the birthers always promised that they would shut up if only Obama would release his long form birth certificate. Look how well that turned out.

I'm sure he'll come up with some excuse why he believes Hawaii officials now after the Romney campaign tells him to back off. Remember even Brewer vetoed the idiotic Birther bill.

This is ridiculous.

Everyone, including the Arizona Secretary of State, knows full well Obama will be on the ballot.

...only if a Supreme Court decision declared that election of the President could never be guaranteed as a free and competitive process. Otherwise it is a high-risk action that might
lead to a disputed election.  I can't see any language in the Constitution that guarantees that States must elect the President through fair process; what would stop a State from determining how it casts its votes based on something so suspect as a coin toss, let alone a decree of the Governor?


Such would make a travesty of the idea of the President as an elected leader. The President's credibility would be suspect upon inauguration, as would any VP. The person who did that could easily find himself in the legal position of Rod Blagojevich.


I don't know how effective a formal non-partisan treatment of the electoral process would work. Non-partisan like the election of the Supreme Court of Michigan? In practice the parties all but endorse the judges.

It seems that Arizona is the new Mississippi.

Why is it that they produce so many nuts?

Seriously, Joe Arpaio, the tarmac governor, the guy who shot Gabrielle Giffords...

Is the sun too much for these folks?

On the plus side, Arizona did produce Mo Udall.

LOL

They should also ask for his birth or naturalization certificate: I would strongly doubt Arizona law would allow a non-citizen of the US to be their secretary of state, so, unless he can prove he is a citizen, he might not be eligible for his current job. It would be incumbent on Hawaii to check.

Did they ask for the long version of his birth certificate, and a newspaper announcing his birth?

Well, it seems this guy claims to be born in Tucson. I wouldn't believe any birth certificate issued in that area of the world: too easy for Mexicans to bribe midwives or even hospitals to record their birth north of the border, even if it really happened, say, somewhere in Chihuahua (there are, I believe, quite a few people who look and pray like that Bennet guy in those parts of Mexico).  So, I would ask for witnesses, who were present at delivery. And I would want at least two of those to be of native Hawaiian heritage.

That would only prove some person of that name was born in Tucson some time. He also needs to prove he is that person. I don't think it's too much to ask for dna samples of himself and all his alleged family.

Arizona Officially Accepts Obama's Birth Record

Published May 23, 2012

HONOLULU— –  The State of Arizona has officially accepted President Barack Obama's birth records, ending a highly publicized, and highly controversial, "fishing trip" by Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arizona state officials.

The announcement on Tuesday, by Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, that he has received information from Hawaii that proves President Obama's American birth and satisfies Arizona's requirements for having the president on the upcoming election ballot, reports azcentral.com, putting an end to a nearly three-month back and forth that Arizona officials said could have ended without the incumbent's name on its November ballot.

Joshua Wisch, special assistant to Hawaii Attorney General David Louie, told The Associated Press in an email late Tuesday that the matter is resolved after Hawaii gave Arizona the verification it was looking for.

Hawaii — which has vouched for Obama's birth in the state several times as early as October 2008 — didn't bow to the request easily. The Aloha State told Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett he had to prove he needed the records as part of normal business.

Wisch says Hawaii got what it needed, so it gave Bennett's office the verification.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/05/23/arizona-officially-accepts-obama-birth-record/#ixzz1vhdrz4zm