In some states, unqualified parties must circulate candidate petitions, to get themselves on the 2008 ballot. Many states permit unqualified parties to list stand-in candidates on the petition, for president and vice-president. That is useful, because it means the parties can be petitioning now for 2008, before they know whom their nominees will be. The Constitution Party has chosen Jim Clymer as its stand-in presidential candidate, and Chuck Baldwin as its stand-in vice-presidential candidate. These names can then be listed on candidate petitions. When the actual nominees are known, the stand-ins will withdraw and the actual nominees will be substituted.

John B. Anderson pioneered the use of stand-ins, in 1980, when he was an independent candidate for president. He was petitioning before he knew who his vice-presidential candidate would be. His v-p stand-in was Milton Eisenhower, older brother of former President Dwight Eisenhower. At the time, Milton Eisenhower was 91 years old. Anderson’s actual vice-presidential candidate, former Wisconsin Governor Patrick Lucey, was chosen by Anderson on August 25, 1980, and almost every state let Anderson substitute. Anderson sued three states that refused to let him substitute, and won all three cases (Pennsylvania, Indiana and Florida).

The Libertarian Party pioneered presidential substitution during the early 1990’s. The party didn’t choose its 1996 ticket until July 4, 1996, but it did much petitioning before that date, using Ed Clark as a stand-in. All states permitted presidential stand-in in 1996 for the Libertarians except for Florida. The party sued Florida in 1996 in federal court and won the lawsuit. It was called Libertarian Party of Florida v Mortham and is not reported.