19-year-old Fmr. Candidate for KS Governor may have just won a State House seat

[StateBoiler]

1. Guy's 19 and has revenge porn from the past and bullied a girl so much in 6th grade she considered suicide? My wife's a middle school counselor and items like this aren't news to me, welcome to grade schools. The norms there don't match established norms of society. Young kids with cell phones are not necessarily enlightened in spite of how some people try to portray the political and social attitudes of the youth vote.
2. That said, him winning the primary is Roy Moore in Alabama levels of failure from the Democratic primary voters.
3. The easiest solution to this for Democrats if he does win is he's seated in the State House but they make him James Traficant. Expelled from the party caucus, has no commitee memberships, literally the only thing he has any power over is to vote.
4. If I was Mr. Coleman, I'd be making just enough friends to stave off an organized write-in campaign and portraying Frownfelter as a guy that cannot accept he lost. He'll have voter ignorance in his favor as unlike Murkowski or the D.C. Mayor that had to win via write-in, State House in a presidential election year will not get as much attention abnd a significant amount of voters in the district will reflexively vote Democrat.

[StateBoiler]

https://twitter.com/powerpuff_curl/status/1298809168036589568?s=19

What a ****ing creep.

Yes, I'm shocked that a 19 year old on Tinder isn't a gentlemen that treats ladies with respect.

[StateBoiler]

https://twitter.com/Aaron4KS37/status/1302638089408589824
...Wow.

That first paragraph is my most favorite political statement ever. It's like taking middle school dating and putting it in a political race.

[StateBoiler]

Here's a good one: does Kansas have in state law that anyone voting in a party primary must vote for that party's nominee in November? I know it's never enforced but as I hate open primaries if Frownfelter wins by a large margin this would be the perfect example to make in court the absurdity of the law. Frownfelter could even be the person Coleman could aggrieve against because Frownfelter would have to admit publicly he did not vote for Coleman and if that law is on the books, then Frownfelter by definition would no longer be a bona fide Democrat.

(We're really going out there I know but I'm doing this because that law in states it does exist is an unenforceable fiction and the fiction is tolerated to have open primaries. If the law exists in Kansas and Frownfelter wins it provides evidence of the fiction and why the law should not exist. A small town near me in 2015 the losing candidate brought this issue up in a lawsuit and it was quite the tempest in a teacup.)

[StateBoiler]

Here's a good one: does Kansas have in state law that anyone voting in a party primary must vote for that party's nominee in November? I know it's never enforced but as I hate open primaries if Frownfelter wins by a large margin this would be the perfect example to make in court the absurdity of the law. Frownfelter could even be the person Coleman could aggrieve against because Frownfelter would have to admit publicly he did not vote for Coleman and if that law is on the books, then Frownfelter by definition would no longer be a bona fide Democrat.

(We're really going out there I know but I'm doing this because that law in states it does exist is an unenforceable fiction and the fiction is tolerated to have open primaries. If the law exists in Kansas and Frownfelter wins it provides evidence of the fiction and why the law should not exist. A small town near me in 2015 the losing candidate brought this issue up in a lawsuit and it was quite the tempest in a teacup.)

Does any state have that law? This is the first I've heard of anything like that.

Indiana does due to having no party registration. The law is meant to stop true Republicans from voting in Democratic primaries and vice versa, but like I said is completely unenforceable. It's a dumb law I mostly blame on open primaries.

Created this issue in a small town in my county back in 2015. https://www.wane.com/news/ballot-mix-ups-in-woodburn-prompt-special-election/

This is from Ballotpedia:

https://ballotpedia.org/Primary_elections_in_Indiana

•Indiana state law stipulates that, in order to participate in a party's primary, a voter must have either voted for a majority of that party's nominees in the last general election or must intend to vote for a majority of the party's nominees in the upcoming general election. However, according to FairVote, this provision of the law is unenforceable due to the nature of secret balloting. Consequently, a voter in Indiana is permitted to vote in the partisan primary of his or her choosing.

The right to a secret ballot is absolute .

Yes, but if Frownfelter runs against the nominee of the Democratic Party in the general election, then Frownfelter is no longer a bona fide Democrat.

This is all a philosophy argument because I imagine if said laws exist in Kansas, they will just be ignored (which if so, shouldn't they just be repealed by the legislature?). I'm pointing out the idiocy of these types of laws to start with.

[StateBoiler]

Aaron Coleman why? why??

Well, it's who the Democratic Party primary voters of this district picked to represent them.

Personally, I'm in favor of more control for parties and vetting of who should be allowed to run for them. But the two main parties either don't believe in this or their voters would throw a fit. The two parties as they presently exist are incredibly weak entities that function as little more than ballot lines.

[StateBoiler]

Aaron Coleman why? why??

Well, it's who the Democratic Party primary voters of this district picked to represent them.

Personally, I'm in favor of more control for parties and vetting of who should be allowed to run for them. But the two main parties either don't believe in this or their voters would throw a fit. The two parties as they presently exist are incredibly weak entities that function as little more than ballot lines.

I don't really see the problem with the parties functioning as ballot lines. If we can't have third parties, we need to give voters choice in who the major parties nominate, or else the party bosses end up deciding everything. I see your yellow avatar so I know you're in favor of third parties, but we'd need to change the system to encourage third parties first before we limit participation in the nominating process.

Voluntary groups have the right of association that includes the right to decline members. We're off a period where a non-Republican in Donald Trump hijacked the whole national party in 2016, and a non-Democrat in Bernie Sanders almost succeeded twice in hijacking the whole national party as well. Unless both parties start becoming organized, they're going to rapidly descend down the rabbit hole because primary voter percentage rates is incredibly low and filled with the most diehard passionate partisans and ideologues.

[StateBoiler]

Aaron Coleman why? why??

Well, it's who the Democratic Party primary voters of this district picked to represent them.

Personally, I'm in favor of more control for parties and vetting of who should be allowed to run for them. But the two main parties either don't believe in this or their voters would throw a fit. The two parties as they presently exist are incredibly weak entities that function as little more than ballot lines.

I don't really see the problem with the parties functioning as ballot lines. If we can't have third parties, we need to give voters choice in who the major parties nominate, or else the party bosses end up deciding everything. I see your yellow avatar so I know you're in favor of third parties, but we'd need to change the system to encourage third parties first before we limit participation in the nominating process.

 non-Democrat in Bernie Sanders almost succeeded twice in hijacking the whole national party as well.

Bernie Sanders is more of a Democrat than right-wing Joe Lieberman who did hijack the party and was on a presidential ticket.

Sanders was not a Democrat. That is not an opinion. That is a fact, and no one can state that fact is wrong while maintaining credibility in this discussion.

Lieberman was first elected as a Democrat to the Connecticut State Senate in 1970 and served 3 terms as Majority Leader there. So not only was he a Democrat, but the elected Democrats in that legislative body determined that he was their leader. If you're saying he should have been kicked out over time as either he went away from Democratic Party orthodoxy or the Democratic Party orthodoxy left him, please provide the procedures and qualifications necessary for purging according to the Rules and Bylaws of the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party Caucus in the United States Senate. And once you've purged Lieberman from the party, go through every sitting U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, elected state constitutional officer, state legislator, and mayor, and apply the exact same standard to them that you applied to Lieberman.

[StateBoiler]

Any new news on this race as far as how it looks it will turn out? Only thing I see google searching is a couple news articles from the Kansas City Star bashing Coleman and endorsing Frownfelter as a write-in.

[StateBoiler]

How do write-ins work in Kansas?

Is Frownfelter an officially registered write-in candidate?

Would ballots spelling his name wrong be thrown out?

Depends on which candidate the election board are friendly to historically. Since they don't want Coleman elected, I imagine they'll be friendly to Frownfelter misspellings.

[StateBoiler]

I don't know if there are any outstanding precincts, but appears Mr. Coleman has won.

State Representative 37th District
Vote For 1
TOTAL
Dem Aaron Coleman 2,282
Write-In Totals 1,220

[StateBoiler]

For people pissed off, just remember they can make him James Traficant. He serves in the legislature, he has his vote, the Democrats are under no obligation to give him committee memberships or any decision making power beyond his 1 vote.

Automatic removal/refusing to seat him is a beyond horrid solution setting a bad precedent and reminds me of Republicans and Democrats refusing to seat Socialists in the early 20th century.

[StateBoiler]

My sources in Topeka tell me that the plan is now for him to be expelled.

When the special is held, it better not have Frownfelter in it. With all due respect, he lost to this guy TWICE.