Platt is denied spot on ballot

COLUMBIA — Eugene Platt suffered his second blow in as many days Thursday when a federal judge denied his request to be placed on the November ballot as a Green Party candidate for House District 115.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie ruled against the motion for a preliminary injunction after taking a five-minute recess. Her decision came a day after Circuit Judge Markley Dennis signed an order that prevents Platt from running this year for the District 115 seat.

An American Civil Liberties Union attorney representing Platt argued Thursday that the State Election Commission's decision to keep Platt off the ballot violated the First Amendment.

The Election Commission in late June told Platt that he wouldn't qualify for a spot on the ballot after he lost the Democratic Party's nomination that month. The basis for its denial was the state's "sore loser" statute that stops a candidate defeated for one party's nomination from appearing on the ballot for another party.

Bryan Sells, senior staff counsel with the ACLU Voting Rights Project, argued that the "sore loser" statute is unconstitutional given the state's long-standing practice of allowing candidates to run for office under multiple parties.

Sells argued that the ballot decision in effect allowed the Democratic Party to veto the Green Party's choice.

Currie said Platt met the state's March filing deadline to declare his candidacy as a Democrat but did not file for the Green Party until May. As a result, she said, under the law his Green Party candidacy wasn't valid unless he won the Democratic nomination.

Currie also noted that the Green Party knowingly took a risk in nominating Platt given the state's "sore loser" statute.

Platt has two choices now. His attorneys can appeal the decision or he can ask the court to rule on the merits of the case, but Currie said the chances of him winning on those grounds are "weak."

Sells said that the decision was "disappointing" and that he and Platt would discuss their options. As it stands now, Republican incumbent Wallace Scarborough and Democrat Anne Peterson Hutto will face off in November.