Arkansas law requires a party that wishes to be on the ballot to submit 10,000 signatures. The group chooses its own petitioning period, and the job must be done within 90 days. The Green Party starts its 2012 petition drive today, September 3. This is the fourth time the party has had to do this work. It also completed the petition in 2006, 2008, and 2010.
Each time the Green Party has been on the ballot in Arkansas, it has shown substantial voter support. Nevertheless, the law requires a party to constantly re-qualify, unless it polls 3% for the office at the top of the ticket in each election. If the party can keep up its stamina, perhaps election officials will get tired of constantly checking petitions, and the legislature may improve the law on party retention.
The only other parties that have qualified by petition in Arkansas have been the Reform Party in 1996, and the Libertarian Party earlier this year. Before 1971, parties were permitted to be on the Arkansas ballot just by being organized; no petition was needed. Parties that want to be on the ballot in Arkansas just for President don’t need to complete the 10,000-signature petition; they just need 1,000 signatures.
Separate is NOT equal.
Each election is NEW and has ZERO to do with any prior election — except the actual number of voters in the election areas involved.
Your point is a sound one, but for over 100 years, the overwhelming majority of states have taken a different approach, and defined “party” as something based on how it performed in a past election.
The only state that completely follows your logic is Delaware, which defines “party” strictly in terms of how many registered voters it has currently, and makes no reference at all to what happened two years earlier. Various other states also define party by current registration data, but those other states always have alternate methods for qualifying that do depend on what happened in the recent past.
Good luck to the Greens. My libs got on the AR ballot earlier this year and I am happy that the voters will be able to choose a candidate for liberty in more offices than just for prez.
How’s AE doing in Arkansas? I heard that they’ve started petitioning there just for prez, so they only need 1k sigs.
#1 You should move to Delaware if you don’t already live there. 🙂
As I’ve written before, but this falls on deaf ears, until ballot access becomes a “civil rights” issue, we will never get the major parties to address this discrimination.
Unfortunately, there are not enough of us protest at the polling places across the nation each election so hopefully someone – the media or someone – would get our attention. But I am also afraid it is not just the major party leaders who do not want us to have equal ballot access. I am afraid many “rank and file” major party members and voters have the same attitude. They think of us as “kooks and nuts” who have no rights, so maybe we all ought to move to Delaware?
#2 California, effective with the 2016 election determines which parties are qualified for presidential elections based on registration (or petition alone).
There is no party qualifying standard for other elections in statute.
#6, that’s right, but as you said, it starts in the future, and I believe that by the time 2016 comes around the California law will have changed.
# 2 Too many brain dead ballot access lawyers to count — who become party hack robot legislators in gerrymander regimes — Congress, all 50 State legislatures, etc.
Gee – was the 14th Amdt written to protect even Elephants in the ex-Rebel States — who had remained loyal to the Union and risked their lives, liberties and property during the horrific Civil War ???
More — having the STATE maintain lists of party hacks is like having DEATH lists — see the purges and civil wars in the Roman Republic 120 B.C. to 27 B.C. — killed off by the EVIL tyrant Augustus Caesar — about 500 years of resulting EVIL and terror.
Any lists of party hacks in the Stalin and Hitler regimes ???
For any Dummies on this list — the top control freak Donkeys and Elephants are playing their EVIL games for PERMANENT control of the U.S.A. and everybody and everything in it.
Be on the *wrong* list and die, become a slave, etc. ??? Duh.
Since when is the U.S.A. immune from the party hack monarchy / oligarchy EVIL as in 1914-1945 ???
One has got to admire the work ethic of the Arkansas Greens.
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#7 California should drastically reduce the number of voters necessary to qualify a political party. They could then switch entirely to the petition method for qualifying new parties (signing the petition would have the effect of changing your affiliation).
They could then require registration in a qualified party.
Wow… thx ;-]