Can the South Carolina GOP enforce it's no 3rd party clause?

[jg10003]

Question for election law legal experts:
Suppose Trump signs the SC GOP pledge not to run as a 3rd party candidate and then changes his mind after the primaries end. If Trump runs as an independent, gets the required number of signatures on his petition, and pays the filing fee, then can the GOP keep him off the SC ballot because he signed a pledge during the primary? The same question applies to all the states with a similar pledge.

[Travis_0004]

1. No.

He may be violating a GOP state policy, but the board of elections generally doesn't care about that. The SC GOP can punish him (like not allow him to run in state primaries in the future), but generally the state board of elections doesn't care, nor should they. If he is eligible to run, and chooses to, he should be on the ballot.

[66 dmhlt]

2. Uneforceable & Unconstitutional

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/candidate-loyalty-oaths-are-unenforceable-and-unconstitutional/

[Lee-Lee]

3. That isn't, but enough states have "sore loser" laws

That say if you run in the primary you can't run as a different party in the general election for the same office.

Not all states, but enough that an independent run wouldn't be on the ballot in enough states that a win would not be possible.