States with
Proposed Eligibility Legislation
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Over the course of the 2008 presidential cycle
BasicsProject.org researchers came to the startling conclusion that while
the prerequisites for holding the office of President of the United States
are set forth in Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution
there is no mechanism for enforcing or verifying a candidate's satisfaction
of those requirements.
Article II, Section 1 specifically states:
"No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United
States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible
to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that
Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been
fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."
Yet, nowhere in the US Constitution is there authorization for a mechanism
to assure that Article II, Section 1 is satisfied; there is no
constitutional mechanism in place -- either in the original document of in
any of the amendments -- that requires a candidate for the office of
President of the United States to file documents proving his eligibility to
hold office.
This can be explained in part for the Framers intention to recognize the
sanctity of the rights of the States to not only allocate their Electoral
College votes in a manner they see fit, but to craft the process by which
their ballot totals engage the federal election process. It is for this
reason that each state’s election authority must certify elections before
the federal electors are dispatched to cast their votes.
During our research into this
matter the following truths were discovered:
The Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is charged, exclusively, with regulating
and enforcing election campaign finance law. The FEC's domain does not
include verifying the eligibility of the candidates per Article II,
Section 1 of the US Constitution.
The FEC’s mission statement reads: “In 1975, Congress created the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to
administer and enforce the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) - the
statute that governs the financing of federal elections. The duties of
the FEC, which is an independent regulatory agency, are to disclose
campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such
as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the
public funding of Presidential elections.”
County & Sub-State Level
Election Authorities
County and sub-state level election authorities routinely abdicate the
responsibility of vetting POTUS and VPOTUS to their respective state
election boards and commissions.
State Boards of Election &
Commissions
The only verification process that State Boards of Election and State
Election Commissions execute is to require:
1) A
Statement of Candidacy: This form (this is an FEC form but it
encompasses the requirements of every state) requires each candidate to
provide his name, address, party affiliation, office sought, the state
and district of the contest, a designation of a principle campaign
committee, the designation of other authorized committees and a
declaration of intent to expend personal funds. Lastly, it requires a
potential candidate to “attest” that he or she is “qualified for the
office specified.” At no place in the official guide or paperwork is a
birth certificate or other form of verification of natural born
citizenship required
2) A Loyalty Oath (optional)
3) Receipt for filing a Statement of Economic Interests (This is not
required for federal offices or political party offices)
4) Completed Nominating Petitions: These petitions must be correctly
filed out, notarized and contain a sufficient number of original
signatures as set forth by the election commission
When contacted by our
researches, each and every election board and commission responded, some
through their legal counsels, that the entity responsible for vetting
the eligibility of their nominated candidates is the political party
itself.
Florida
Under
Florida law, the way in which a major party’s candidate is placed on the
ballot is that the state executive committee of each political party
submits its slate of presidential electors for its candidate before
September 1st of each presidential election year; then, by law, the
names of candidates are printed on the ballot. Those candidates are not
required to provide any documents to the State that they meet the
qualifications for office."
North Carolina
"The
North Carolina State Board of Elections has accepted the nominations for
President from the Democratic, Libertarian and Republican Parties as
presented by those parties. The North Carolina State Board of Elections
does not have jurisdiction to hear a challenge to the eligibility of
these Presidential candidates."
California
"While the
Secretary of State certifies candidates for the ballot, each political
party is legally responsible for choosing the candidate they wish to
place on the ballot."
Michigan
"Please be
advised that the state central committee of each political party
qualified to appear on the ballot certifies the names of its nominees
for U.S. President and Vice-President to the Secretary of State under
the signatures of the chairperson and secretary of the committee. (See
MCL 168.686) Copies of the nominees' birth certificates or birth records
are not required."
Political Parties
A search of both the Republican National Committee and Democrat National
Committee websites turns up no information about how either of the
party's executive committees vets their proposed candidates. Further, no
information about either of the parties most recent candidate's
eligibility qualifications was accessible through their organization's
official websites. Calls inquiring as to the individual party's vetting
processes and public accessibility to vital documents went unreturned.
20th Amendment
The Section III to the 20th Amendment to the US Constitution states:
"If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the
President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect
shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before
the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect
shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as
President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may
by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice
President shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as
President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected,
and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice
President shall have qualified."
Although the Twentieth Amendment to the United States provides for a
line of succession in the event of the death of the President-Elect or
in the event that the President-Elect and/or the Vice-President-Elect
fail to "qualify" to hold office, it does not provide for a mechanism to
enforce Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution in that
it does not mandate a procedure to verify the credentials needed to
satisfy Article II, Section 1.
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The issue of
eligibility where the federal government's Executive Branch is concerned is
not one of politics; it is not, in any way, shape or form related to the
so-called "birther" issue. The issue of presidential eligibility is one that
addresses the protection of our citizenry’s fidelity to the United States
Constitution. Yet many disingenuous political operatives – who put the
well-being of their political parties or special interests above honesty and
good government – and many pundits, editors and producers – unwittingly or
otherwise – have seen clear to blur the lines between the “birther” issue
and an honest movement to affect the closing of a loophole unforeseen by our
Founders and Framers.
A law – state or federal – that creates an enforcement mechanism for Article
II, Section 1 of the US Constitution is a protection that every American –
and every elected official – should be able to agree upon. Yet, time and
time again, elected officials in state after state, from both sides of the
aisle, prove beyond doubt that they choose opportunistic politics and a
healthy fear of the smear-mongering mainstream media and special interest
groups over protecting the Constitution and the citizenry of the United
States.
You, as an American citizen and guardian of the Charters of Freedom, must
engage in grassroots activity, through established organizations or, at the
very least, through your individual advocacy, engaging your elected
officials in a campaign of education so that they can fully understand the
threat currently facing our Constitution via this unforeseen loophole, a
loophole that exists solely because the Framers and Founders were men of
honor, who expected the same from future public servants.
Links:
US Senate
US House
State Legislatures
National Tea Party
Patriot Website |
