Mississippi elects all of its state legislators in the odd years before presidential elections. All legislators have 4-year terms. In the 2011 election, the Libertarian, Reform, and Constitution Parties have candidates for the legislature. The Libertarians are: Harold M. Taylor, Sean Holmes, Jan “Jay” Butler, and Donna Knezevich (all are running for State House). The Reform Party candidates are Lajena Williams, Yasming Johnson (each running for State Senate), and Randy Walker (for State House). The Constitution Party candidate is James Overstreet (for State Senate).
The Libertarian Party has never before had any nominees for the Mississippi State House, although it had one for Mississippi State Senate in 1995. The Reform Party has never before had any nominees for the Mississippi legislature. The Constitution Party had eight nominees for the Mississippi legislature in 2007.
Mississippi is also electing its state executive positions this year. The Reform Party is the only minor party that has any statewide nominees. There is also one independent running for Governor. There are twelve independent candidates for the legislature this year.
It’s nice to see more liberty minded candidates on the ballot. Is it more difficult to get state wide candidates on the ballot?
Mississippi has very easy ballot access. It is the only state that has never changed its statutory definition of “political party.” In Mississippi, a political party is any group that has a statewide organization, and an organization within each U.S. House district. There is no petition and no vote test for a party to remain on. That has been true since 1890, when the state created its first government-printed ballots. No minor party or independent presidential candidate with a real campaign has ever been kept off the ballot in Mississippi. The independent petition is only 1,000 signatures for statewide office, and 200 for U.S. House.
It is true that the Communist Party never placed any candidates on the Mississippi ballot, but that isn’t because of the ballot access laws. The Communist Party simply didn’t have any activists in the state who were willing to be publicly identified as members of the party. The only other states in which no Communist Party candidate ever appeared on the ballot are Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
GO LP!!!
WTF happened to the CP there? Did Leslie scare everybody off?
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This is great news! I encourage people to donate to any of these candidates you support.
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Which faction are these Reform Party candidates with? I think they are O’Hara brigade.
Yes, Dennis, those two are with the O’Hara faction. The Secretary of State will be deciding against them shortly. O’Hara’s website is msdemocrat.net and he is also running as a democrat for Treasurer – so I feel fairly certain about the decision.
I am the Reform Party candidate for Governor of Mississippi.
http://bobbykearan.com/vote/
http://facebook.com/BobbyKearan4MS