A Grand Forks political activist who accused the secretary of state of discriminating against third-party candidates has lost his appeal before the state Supreme Court. Roland Riemers, a Libertarian who ran for governor last fall, lost his case in Grand Forks County district court in September. The state’s high court affirmed that ruling in an opinion released Tuesday. The case is Roland Riemers v. Alvin Jaeger, the secretary of state. Essentially, Riemers said the state prevented him from appearing on the November ballot as a Libertarian — he ran as an independent — because of a paperwork error, but did not penalize Republican and Democratic gubernatorial candidates for a different paperwork error. He wanted their names off the ballot, too.
Among other things, the Supreme Court ruled that Riemers had provided “no credible evidence” that Jaeger discriminated. Jaeger sought the attorney general’s opinion regarding Riemers’ paperwork but didn’t do so for the major parties’ paperwork. But the court said Jaeger doesn’t have to ask for a legal opinion on every issue.
Addressing Riemers’ demand that the major party candidates be removed from the ballot, the court said he didn’t provide the evidence needed, namely the paperwork filed by those candidates.