His name would have appeared on the ballots four times, he was counting on the straight ticket voters.
Via WISTV:
Rep. James Smith (D-Richland), the Democratic nominee for Governor, isn’t worried after a weekend full of headlines that have questioned his candidacy’s legitimacy. Smith said he’s lost zero sleep as some question whether or not his spot on the ballot should be challenged.
“Is there any scenarios that you can envision where your name is removed from the ballot?” WIS asked him.
“None. Zero. Not possible. Not going to happen,” Smith said.
The debacle began last week when Smith also filed to become the nominee for three minor parties: the Libertarian, Working Families, and Green Parties.
Smith said he wanted to become what’s known as a “fusion” candidate to represent all South Carolinians, regardless of party.
However, the plan blew up when some of those parties were caught by complete surprise.
“Him filing as a Libertarian at the last minute — it seems like he was trying to get the straight-ticket voters instead of actually getting to know us,” said Alex Thornton, the Vice Chair of the South Carolina Libertarian Party.
On Saturday, during a committee meeting in West Columbia, the Libertarian Party voted unanimously to reject Smith on Saturday. They selected “none of the above” as the party’s candidate instead.
“Ultimately, we did not feel that James Smith and his ideals lined up with ours as a Libertarian,” Thornton said.
Little did they know, sensing the plan was on shaky ground, Smith withdrew all three applications the night before. But Thornton, and her chair, Stewart Flood, feel Smith didn’t withdraw correctly, and they point to a law that states a candidate has to be removed from the ballot entirely if he loses any primary or convention. It’s known as the Sore Loser Law.
“A person who was defeated as a candidate for nomination to an office in a party primary or party convention shall not have his name placed on the ballot for the ensuing general or special election,” the law reads, in part.