On July 7, the Arkansas Secretary of State determined that the Libertarian Party’s petition for party status is valid. The party is now free to nominate by convention for its 2018 nominees. The party is now on the 2018 ballot in 39 states plus D.C. (although in Georgia, it is only on for statewide office, not district or county office; and in Connecticut, it is on for some but not all offices).
The eleven states in which the party is not on the 2018 ballot are Alabama, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington. Of those eleven states, three of them have a ballot-qualified party other than just the Republican and Democratic Parties. They are New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island. The Green Party is on in Ohio and the Moderate Party is on in Rhode Island. New York has eight qualified parties, including Green, Conservative, Working Families, Independence, Reform, and Women’s Equality.
Is there a 2018 ballot in NJ and VA, other than congressional or local non-partisan? My understanding is that the LP is qualified for some 2017 races in both of those states, which is when the statewide and legislative races are there.
But the Libertarian Party isn’t a qualified party in either New Jersey nor Virginia, and it never has been. The post only relates to whether the Libertarian Party is a qualified party, meaning a party that has the same freedom to place nominees on the general election ballot as the Democratic and Republican Parties enjoy.
What is the 39th state? I was under the impression Maine did not give LP ballot access yet.
The LP got status in Maine the day Governor LePage let LD 1571 become law without his signature. That was on June 23, 2017.