The Alabama Libertarian Party is halfway finished with its petition to appear on the ballot in November 2014 in Jefferson County, the state’s most populous county. The petition is to get the party on the ballot; after it has been submitted, then the party can choose nominees by convention. Assuming the petition succeeds, the party will be able to run for state legislative seats that are entirely within the county, and any partisan county offices.
Of course the party would rather complete the petition for statewide status, but that requires 44,829 valid signatures. The Jefferson County petition requires approximately 6,300 valid signatures.
What is the deadline for this petition? I heard that it is on Democrat and Republican Primary election day.
The deadline is in early March 2014. The constitutionality of the deadline is pending in U.S. District Court. In 1991 the Eleventh Circuit struck down Alabama’s old April deadline, and back then the number of signatures was 1%. The petition was increased in 1995 to 3%.
Richard
I believe Andy is right. The petitions will be due on the primary date which is June in non presidential election cycles and March during presidential cycles.