US Senate candidate disqualified by new GOP rule sues to get on the ballot

COLUMBIA — A decertified candidate for U.S. Senate is suing to get his name on the ballot.

The state Republican Party decided Tuesday, after filing for the race closed, that three of the 12 people who signed up to run in the special Aug. 11 primary were not qualified. Two of those candidates, the party said, violated a party rule passed in June requiring candidates vote in two of the last three statewide GOP primaries.

That’s unconstitutional, said Danny Ford II, one of the disqualified candidates, in a lawsuit filed Thursday in Richland County.

SC GOP bars 3 candidates from primary ballot, leaving 9 to compete for US Senate

Ford was just on the ballot in a statewide GOP contest, as he sought the Republican nomination to become the next agriculture commissioner. He ultimately lost in the primary runoff June 23.

After the July 11 death of U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham triggered a special primary to replace him on the November ballot, Ford decided to seek the job. After filing Tuesday, the Upstate farmer told the SC Daily Gazette he wants to advocate for farmers and the state’s agriculture industry in Washington. And then he got an email telling him he couldn’t seek the job.

The party also decertified Darius Mitchell, a self-described “hip-hop Republican” who placed fifth June 9 among challengers trying to unseat Graham, under the two-of-three primaries rule.

Ford voted in both the June primary and the runoff, which he said in the lawsuit should count as the two most recent statewide Republican primaries.

The party counts primaries and runoffs as the same election cycle. The Aug. 11 special election will also be part of the same cycle, meaning anyone who voted on a Democratic ballot can’t vote again, the State Election Commission decided.

A spokesperson for the Republican Party did not respond to a request for comment Thursday evening.

Ford has only ever voted as a Republican, but he hasn’t always voted in the primary elections, he told the Gazette on Thursday. Most people don’t: In the June primary, 25% of registered voters cast a ballot.

Not making it to the polls shouldn’t disqualify someone from running, he said. Voters should have the right to choose any candidate, regardless of how often they voted in the past, he said.

“You just start taking away people’s rights, and I think somebody needs to stand up,” Ford said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

Under the state constitution, legislators decide when, where and how elections take place, while the state’s political parties determine whether a candidate is qualified to run — “nothing less and nothing more,” the lawsuit reads.

But the Republican Party’s rule goes beyond deciding whether a candidate is qualified and into the General Assembly’s constitutional duties, the lawsuit argues.

Legislators have repeatedly declined to close primaries or create an automatic party registration for voters. The rule on primary voting was part of legislation the party backed that never made it out of subcommittee in the House this year.

The Republican Party is also suing the Election Commission, arguing the U.S. Constitution allows the party to close its primaries to only registered Republicans. Nothing has been decided in that federal lawsuit filed in early July.

Ford meets all the other qualifications to run for the office, according to the lawsuit. He is 40, which is a decade older than the minimum age of 30 years, and he has lived in South Carolina his whole life, which more than fulfills the citizenship requirements, the lawsuit reads.

“I thought I learned in high school what it took to be a U.S. senator,” Ford said, only to get disqualified when he tried to run.

The lawsuit asks a judge to require the State Election Commission keep Ford’s name on the ballot and the Republican Party find him qualified to run.

Circuit Court Judge Daniel Coble is slated to hear arguments on the case Monday morning.

He’ll have to move quickly in making a decision. Early voting begins Aug. 6.