For only the second time, the New Hampshire Libertarian Party will attempt to complete the difficult party petition process in New Hampshire. It requires 13,698 signatures, but if completed, then the party is free to nominate by convention for any partisan office in the state without further petitioning. Also that method will enable the party to have its own party column on the November 2012 ballot.

The only time the Libertarian Party did the party petition was in 2000, and that year the party elected a state legislator. The alternative to the party petition is to do separate candidate petitions, which require 3,000 signatures for statewide office, coupled with a distribution requirement (there must be 1,500 signatures from each of the two U.S. House districts). In 2004 the party’s attempt to do the statewide candidate petition failed because one of the two districts lacked 1,500 signatures. Petitioning in New Hampshire is difficult because only one signature is permitted on each sheet of paper.