To many observers, the presidential campaign of Donald Trump has turned into one slow-motion train wreck. He mercilessly attacked a Gold Star family. He has thrown out his top campaign staff not once, but twice. One of his main media advocates, Katrina Pierson, is damned near incoherent. A 12-year-old is apparently running Trump’s campaign in one Colorado county. And on it goes. But a former Minnesota Republican official may have caught one of the biggest goofs of the election cycle yet — thanks to a screw-up by the state’s GOP, Trump is not on the Minnesota ballot.
Michael Brodkorb, a former deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican party, tweeted about the issue on Wednesday night.
Question to @MNSteveSimon -> Why is Donald Trump not listed on the sample ballot available on the SOS website? pic.twitter.com/t7F4EvM610
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) August 24, 2016
Steve Simon, tagged in the tweet, is Minnesota’s secretary of state.
Brodkorb later added this:
So, @MNSteveSimon website’s provides a great way to get info on candidates - but Trump isn’t listed, because #MNGOP hasn’t filed info. Wow.
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) August 25, 2016
Then this:
UPDATE: Total confusion among #MNGOP officials on process for Trump being on MN ballot - absolutely possible they could’ve missed deadline.
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) August 25, 2016
Apparently the party’s attempt to fix the problem may not be good enough. Brodkorb notes that under state law, a political party must provide the following to the secretary of state:
- The names of the party candidates for president and vice-president
- The names of ten electors nominated by the party
- The names of ten alternate electors
It’s that last item that could cause an issue. It seems the Minnesota GOP has not selected alternate electors. Brodkorb notes that the party could call a convention to select those electors, but there isn’t enough time to do so before the filing deadline. And the party’s remedy — the leadership simply appointed the alternates — is not allowed under the Minnesota GOP’s constitution.
UPDATE: Last night #MNGOP “appointed” alternate electors to fix problem - BUT this isn’t allowed in #MNGOP constitution - so we have a mess.
— Michael Brodkorb (@mbrodkorb) August 25, 2016
Now, does Donald Trump have the proverbial snowball’s chance to win Minnesota? Let’s put it this way: Sane Republican presidential candidates have lost Minnesota to the Democrat in every election save one since 1956 (Richard Nixon won the state in 1972). So it’s highly unlikely the one state that refused to participate in the 1984 Reagan landslide will go for Trump. But what an embarrassment for Republicans to miss the ballot, even in a state where they will lose badly, especially when that ballot contains names of candidates from the “American Delta Party” and the “Legal Marijuana Now” party.
This will probably get resolved soon. These things always seem to. But it’s another example of how the Grand Old Party is becoming the Grand Old Implosion ever since hitching its little red wagon to the horse’s ass named Donald Trump.
Featured image via John Moore/Getty Images
