WDAY, a television station in Fargo, North Dakota, has this short piece about the Libertarian Party’s ballot access petition for the 2014 election. The clip shows professional petitioner Gerald Bundy working on the street.
The North Dakota Libertarian Party needs 7,000 signatures by April 11, 2014. If the party receives at least 5% of the vote for either Secretary of State or Attorney General in 2014, then it will be on the ballot automatically in 2016. Currently only the Democratic and Republican Parties are on the North Dakota ballot. The last time any minor party met the North Dakota 5% vote test was in 1996, when Ross Perot’s North Dakota percentage exceeded 5% and put the Reform Party on the ballot automatically for 1998.
So otherwise the NDLP didn’t get the 5% in 2012?
The Libertarian Party has never met the North Dakota vote test requirement. In 2012 it got 1.62% for President, 3.25% for U.S. House, .82% for Governor, and 4.34% for Public Service Commissioner.
In 2010 it got 1.63% for U.S. Senate, 3.32% for Tax Commissioner, and 3.58% for Public Service Commissioner.
The Reform Party in 1996, and the Non-Partisan League in 1922, are the only parties (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties) that have met the North Dakota vote test in the last 98 years. For most of the last 100 years, the only office for which the vote test could be used was Governor. Fortunately the list of offices that count for the vote test was expanded in the 1990’s. Not all statewide offices count. In 2014 two offices count, Secretary of State and Attorney General.
The petitioner interviewed was Gerald Bundy, Darryl’s uncle.
Thanks, Paulie! I have corrected the post.