Could Sanders run as an independent even without his approval?

[Dangerosa]

@asahi

He might not be an idiot, but he just might be delusional and narcissistic enough to try. I’ve given him the benefit of the doubt up to this point, but his rhetoric lately seems to be drifting more into treacherous waters.

If Sanders runs, I hope the Democratic party crushes him and any candidate who even remotely supported him in future elections. Regardless of what happens, the Democratic party needs to make sure that it finds ways to keep independents like Sanders from thanklessly using their machine to promote a delusional campaign.

It seems like that should be able to be done contractually. If you use the DNC mail lists or participate in the DNC debates, you will accept the choice the party makes at the convention - you can’t run as an independent, nor campaign against the DNC choice. Doing so will trigger penalties of some percentage of your overall campaign spend.

[Chronos]

Quoth Martin Hyde:

That’s going to be legally very difficult. Just looking at filing forms real quick from a few large states, and all of them require candidate’s signature on them. So you literally couldn’t get Bernie candidates for electoral college on the ballot in say, California, without Bernie’s signature.

But the OP’s point is that technically, Sanders would not be the candidate in any state’s race. The people actually voted for are the electors, and so those forms would need the elector’s signature, not Sanders’.

[Simplicio]

@Chronos

But the OP’s point is that technically, Sanders would not be the candidate in any state’s race. The people actually voted for are the electors, and so those forms would need the elector’s signature, not Sanders’.

If I’m reading Martin’s post correctly, I think he’s saying that the forms to be an Elector require the signature of the candidate you want to be an Elector for, not just your own. So a Sander’s candidacy sans Sanders wouldn’t go anywhere. You can’t pledge yourself to someone who doesn’t want the office.

Makes sense. I suspect if that weren’t the case, partisans of one candidate would try and stand as Electors of a spoiler candidate to try and steal votes from their opponent. A bunch of Trump supporters might try and stand as Bernie Electors, for example, to get the votes of liberals who would otherwise vote for Hillary.

[Martin_Hyde]

@Chronos

But the OP’s point is that technically, Sanders would not be the candidate in any state’s race. The people actually voted for are the electors, and so those forms would need the elector’s signature, not Sanders’.

In a few of the states I’ve looked at the actual candidate has to file a form for electors to be registered to represent them. California being one that is like this. If this form isn’t filed, then you cannot have electors on the ballot in November.

[Simplicio]

@Simplicio

Makes sense. I suspect if that weren’t the case, partisans of one candidate would try and stand as Electors of a spoiler candidate to try and steal votes from their opponent. A bunch of Trump supporters might try and stand as Bernie Electors, for example, to get the votes of liberals who would otherwise vote for Hillary.

Thinking about it more, if this weren’t the law, you might also have people signing up to be Electors with the intention of being faithless and throwing support to their real candidate.

So having the Candidate actually sign off on their slate of Electors seems like it’d be a necessary precaution in every state.

[Sherrerd]

@asahi

He might not be an idiot, but he just might be delusional and narcissistic enough to try. I’ve given him the benefit of the doubt up to this point, but his rhetoric lately seems to be drifting more into treacherous waters.
…

Yes. One of my objections to Sanders has always been that he really does seem to see the world in “us versus them” terms. Of course such rhetoric does well at political rallies, but his use of it seems to be heartfelt–it’s not a mere tactic for him.

And having decided to compete against Clinton, it became necessary to him to make her not just an opponent, but the actual embodiment of deceit, corruption, and repression of The People. Fighting her nomination thus becomes a struggle of Good against Evil.

As I said a couple of months ago, in a discussion of when Sanders might drop out of the race:

He won’t drop out. He sees himself as a holy warrior (albeit a secular one). Holy warriors don’t drop out!

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19160044&highlight=holy+warrior#post19160044

Surely it’s been mentioned and linked to in some other thread, but in case it hasn’t:

Donald Trump on Sunday laid out plans to use Sen. Bernie Sanders’s attacks to weaken Hillary Clinton in a general-election matchup.
Trump, doubling down on his comment that Clinton is succeeding in the Democratic primaries only because she is a woman, said that Sanders has leveled criticism that was “a lot worse” and that he will use it if he runs against Clinton in November.

Sanders “said that she almost shouldn’t be allowed to run, that she’s not qualified to run and she’s not capable,” Trump said in an interview with “Fox News Sunday.”
“I’m going to use that. We’ll have that teed up. . . . What he said is incredible. It’s a sound bite,” Trump said.

Politics | News from The Advocate

And, just three hours ago, the headline:

Bernie Sanders is Continuing to Escalate His Attacks on Hillary Clinton

Bernie Sanders is escalating his attacks on Hillary Clinton — and Trump is...