Jack of Harts

The deadlines for declaring candidacy had passed before Lopez and Freemon were Impeached, and no one in their party had run any credible campaign to replace them. There was therefore no one to turn to when the federal Congress declared they were ineligible to run for re-election. So their party simply declined to do as told. They kept Lopez and Freemon as the leaders of the party, campaigning for other candidates all over America. There were no debates, and the federal Congress directed that Lopez and Freemon be removed from the ballots before Election Day. Some States followed that guidance. Others did not, most saying that they did not have time to reprint the ballots. Texas’ refusal was more direct and far more colorful. The party asked the people to vote for Lopez and Freemon on every ballot that had them, and to write them in if it did not. The campaign garnered a clear popular majority in thirty States. The other State election commissions rejected any ballot with their names on it and five States actually shredded or deleted them, in accordance with the new federal election laws that authorized the destruction of vandalized ballots. The States that declared the incumbent President winner were enough to provide him a clear electoral and popular vote victory, and he was quick to accept their mandate to preside over all of the United States.