McMullin stuck with accidental running mate

Independent presidential candidate Evan McMullin may be stuck with a running mate he didn’t want.

McMullin listed “Nathan Johnson” as a placeholder name in all nine states he has qualified on the presidential ballot.

But officials in eight of the states say he isn’t allowed to change the name on the ballot, Politico reported Wednesday.

{mosads}“It’s a placeholder,” Rick Wilson, McMullin’s senior adviser and chief communications officer, told Politico. “I don’t personally know the guy. He’s somebody that they vetted as a placeholder. That’s all it is.

“We thought it would be inappropriate to just grab the first person that walked off the street instead of vetting them, which is what we’re doing. We will have a V.P. nomination.”

McMullin listed Johnson with the expectation he could ultimately replace him as his running mate, Wilson added.

“Nathan is a guy who’s on the ballot right now with the full understanding that this is going to swap out in the immediate future. Our legal people have also had a long look at this thing and they’re confident that we can do this, we can make this thing work.”

But state officials say it’s too late for McMullin to switch in another name.

“It cannot be changed,” Louisiana Secretary of State press secretary Meg Casper said of McMullin’s ticket. “We already have machines that are complete.”

“The clerks will begin printing the ballots now, so there is no way to change it,” added Mark Thomas, the Utah director of elections for the lieutenant governor’s office. “Yes, Johnson is the V.P.”

McMullin’s situation remains the same in Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, South Carolina and Virginia, top election officials in each state told Politico.

Lynn Bartels, a spokeswoman for Colorado’s Secretary of State office, said McMullin has until Friday to change Johnson’s name there.

McMullin launched his long-shot bid for the White House last month as an alternative to Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

The CIA veteran has repeatedly criticized Trump for not embodying the party’s typical conservatism.