A Mishawaka man nominated by two different political parties for the same Indiana Senate seat is planning to sue the state so that he can have his name appear on the November ballot as a representative of both parties.
Gerard Arthus was nominated to be the Libertarian candidate for the Indiana Senate District 10 seat a little over a week before he won the Republican nomination for the seat in the May 3 primary, the South Bend Tribune reported. The District 10 seat is currently occupied by Democrat John Broden, who is running for St. Joseph County Circuit Court judge in November.
Indiana law requires Arthus to pick a party by July 15. If he doesn’t, he will be listed as a Republican on the ballot because his nomination for that party came from a popular vote. He vowed to file a federal lawsuit when the Indiana Election Division tries to remove his Libertarian Party nomination from the ballot.
“This is a way for the moneyed interests and two political parties to control the process,” he told the Tribune. “They’re so deathly afraid that insiders are going to get knocked out, they’re doing everything they can do to knock out people who don’t tow the party line.”
Similar laws have been challenged and upheld by federal courts and by the U.S. Supreme Court. Read more about those cases, as well as find out what Arthus wants to do if he’s elected, in the full story from the South Bend Tribune.