Comparing Qualified Party Status for Libertarian, Green and Constitution Parties, Relative to Four Years Ago

Libertarian Party: compared to the day after the November 2014 election, has gained qualified status in D.C., Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, and Oklahoma. Compared to November 2014, it has lost status in Alaska, Maryland, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. In Alaska, it only got 1.84% for Governor, and 3% was required. In Maryland, it only got .57% for Governor, and 1% was required. In North Dakota it didn’t have any statewide candidates on the ballot. UPDATE: it appears the Ohio Libertarian Party is still ballot-qualified, even though it did not receive as much as 3% for Governor in November 2018. The law says when a party petitions, it remains on the ballot until the first election that is at least a year later than the date the petition was approved.

Green Party: compared to the day after the November 2014 election, has gained qualified status in Missouri and North Carolina. Compared to the same day in 2014, it has lost qualified status in Arizona, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin (although the party was not on in Arizona for the 2014 election, it had already submitted its party petition as of election day 2014).

Constitution party: compared to the day after the November 2014 election, has gained qualified status in North Carolina, and did not lose it anywhere. This post originally erroneously said that the party lost qualified status in New Mexico.


Comments

Comparing Qualified Party Status for Libertarian, Green and Constitution Parties, Relative to Four Years Ago — 35 Comments

  1. Every election is NEW.

    ALL *parties* lose qualified status — regardless of all moron SCOTUS cases.

    What State on Election Days asks about what *parties* [FACTIONS of PUBLIC Electors} have an automatic right to get the FACTION candidates on the ballots in the NEXT election ???

    INDIVIDUAL candidates [partisan or independent] get ballot access or not [for partisan offices].

    INDIVIDUAL candidates get elected or not.

    PR and AppV

  2. In my opinion, the Michigan Libertarian Party is better off with convention status than with primary status. When the party has primary status, its candidates for Congress and Governor must submit big petitions to get on the primary ballot. But when the party has convention status, no petitions are needed.

  3. Some mini media attention with primary status.

    Near ZERO media attention with convention status.


    PR and AppV

  4. Also, based on last night’s results, didn’t the LP fail to retain party status in Arkansas, Iowa, and Ohio?

  5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/11/08/red-vs-blue-a-brief-history-of-how-we-use-political-colors/

    Red-Blue machinations — brainwashing — color TV.

    RED Donkey hard-core communists — regardless of RED media deceptions — esp. since 1992 B. Clinton.

    Get ready for RED Donkey hard-core communist committee chairs in Jan 2019 in USA H Reps.

    — and blue/black fascist Elephant responses.

    Gerrymander MONSTER oligarchs at work.

    PR and AppV

  6. Tom P, the Libertarian Party was not a ballot-qualified party in December 2014 in the three states you mentioned. So there is no change when the current results are compared to the same time four years ago.

    Concerning Alaska, the Libertarian Party for the last few years has let its registration slip below what is required. That didn’t matter in 2014, when the party got over 3% for Governor, the alternate way to remain on. The party will probably do a voter registration drive soon to get its qualified status back.

  7. Walter, yes, the Green Party got over 3% for Secretary of State and for Treasurer, so it has the same status in Massachusetts that it had four years ago.

  8. The Green Party losing access in those states really hurts. This is why people should vote third-parties if for no other reason, to try to keep them viable ballot options. It’s way too damn hard for third-parties to get on the ballot in this country, and it just leads to arrogant major party supporters chastising us to support their candidate. Best wishes to the Greens getting their access back in those states.

  9. I have a question about retention in Arkansas, and possible correction to my post above. The candidate for governor received 2.9%, short of the 3% required. But is the 3% requirement just for the governor’s race, or is it for any statewide office? Looking on the SOS website, there are several statewide LP candidates well above 3%. The candidate for State Auditor got around 27% of the vote (in a two-way race with a Republican). The commissioner of state lands got 3.3% in a three-way race.

  10. Tom P., only the Arkansas vote for the top of the ballot race counts. President in presidential years, and governor in midterm years, and the vote test must be met every election. The Green Party sued to overturn that definition of “party” but lost.

    Cody, the South Dakota Constitution Party had no candidates on the ballot this year, so it couldn’t get 2.5% for any statewide race.

  11. Cody, the South Dakota Constitution Party was also off the ballot the day after the November 2014 election. So there is no change, which is why it isn’t listed above.

  12. NM Constitution Party submitted a petition which was accepted by the NM SoS. Since they chose NOT to run any nominees in 2018 I believe they are all set for 2020.

  13. Ricard:

    According to the NM Secretary of state, our ballot petitioning in NM has qualified the party for ballot access through the 2020 election. That is why we got the needed signatures earlier this year.

  14. It would probably be convenient for some here if there was a url link to the 2014 BAN issue that listed how many and which states each minor party was qualified in after the 2014 elections, since some won’t know off hand what the tally was for each minor party from that year -just a recommendation.

  15. That 2014 list isn’t quite an apples to apples comparison to this post. The 2014 list is for Presidential ballot access. Johnson and Stein both secured Presidential ballot access in Connecticut for 2020, and, I think, Johnson also did so for Alaska.

  16. Which is more dangerous to the 2020 top gangsters –

    Greens to RED Donkeys or

    LP to BLUE/Black Elephants

    for divide and conquer math ???

  17. Didn’t the LP only qualify in NM in 2016 and retain it this year, making it a gain from 2014?

  18. In New Mexico they need to hit 5% for Governor or President for major party status. The LP screwed up getting a candidate on the ballot for Governor, and didn’t get any votes for that office this year. There was a dispute about whether that 5% needs to be hit every other year or only once every 4 years (either Governor or President, or both Governor and President.) I don’t know if that dispute was ever resolved.

  19. April, the New Mexico Libertarian Party has been a ballot-qualified party in every election since 1976. What happened in 2016 is that it switched from being a convention party to being a primary party.

    Jim, the law does not require any party to poll 5% for president or governor to keep major party status. The law says “1-7-7. Major political party means any qualified political party, any of whose candidates received as many as 5% of the total number of votes cast at the last preceding election for the office of governor or president.” Also a major party needs registration of at least one-third of 1%. The Libertarians currently meet both conditions. They have the registrations and they had several candidates this year whose vote total exceeded 5% of the gubernatorial vote. Other states in which any office counts, but the divisor for figuring out the percentage is based on one particular office rather than that office, are Nevada and in the past, Vermont. The Green Party of New Mexico kept its major party status after 1996, even though it hadn’t polled 5% for president in 1996; and also kept its major party status after 1998, even though it hadn’t polled 5% for Governor in 1998.

  20. In 2016 the Green Party petitioned for and maintained a presidential ballot line in CT. Looking at the December 2014 BAN petitioning table, it appears that the the AZ filing had not yet been accepted/certified by the state, so the day after the election it was not a GP ballot line. Thus since 4 years ago, the GP has gained CT, MO, and NC, while losing OH and TX.

  21. I just realized something, Richard.

    Technically, the Constitution Party is on in less ballots this year then 2014 because, for one, back in 2014- the Oregon and Idaho state affiliates of the CP were still affiliated with the national party. This year however, both of these state parties are either an independent state minor party, or affiliated with another national political party. So technically, including the gain in North Carolina -the (National) CP is actually on the ballot in ONE LESS state then it was in 2014, when it comes to the total.

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