Libertarians file complaint against Election Commission
By Warner M. Montgomery
Warner@TheColumbiaStar.com

Timothy N. Moultrie, Libertarian candidate for Superintendent of Education, filed a complaint October 4 with the Federal Election Commission on behalf of the Libertarian Party of South Carolina against the SC Election Commission, SCETV, and Attorney General Henry McMaster.

The complaint claims there has been a clear pattern of violations of SC election law by state agencies and select political parties. South Carolina election law requires that certain events occur at specified times, places, and dates for political parties to retain certification (ballot) status.

The law requires precinct meetings to be held. At a later date, county conventions are to be held. The main orders of business required to take place in the county conventions are the election of new county party officers and the nomination of delegates to the various state party conventions. State law also requires that documentation of organized precincts and officers and documentation of the county party convention within all organized counties.

Moultrie claims the Republican and Democratic parties have for years routinely ignored SC election law with the complicity of SCETV and the Attorney General. Therefore, their delegates to the various state conventions have no legal standing to vote in state level party business, have lost their county certification status, are conducting their state level business illegally, have no legal standing to request the State Election Commission to conduct primary elections, and should not receive placement on ballots.

Since the Libertarian Party has been required to follow these rules, says Moultrie, but the Republican and Democratic parties have not, this may constitute a conspiracy to deprive the people of South Carolina of a free, fair, open, and legal electoral process.

This Libertarian Party complaint is a result of their candidates (Moultrie included) not allowed to debate the Republican and Democratic candidates on SCETV when, in fact, the Libertarian Party followed state election rules, and the Republican and Democratic parties did not. The complaint was sent to the Federal Election Commission because SCETV receives federal grants and these actions by SCETV would violate the Equal Protection Clause of Amendment 14 of the US Constitution and would be a misuse of federal funds.