According to this story, it is estimated that when Alabama finishes tallying the November election returns, only 1,117,000 votes will have been cast for Governor. By contrast, in 2010, 1,494,273 votes had been cast for Governor.
The ballot access law requires a newly-qualifying party, or a non-presidential independent, to submit signatures equal to 3% of the last gubernatorial vote. So although the statewide petition requirement for 2012 and 2014 was 44,829, the requirement for 2016 and 2018, unless changed by the legislature, will be only about 35,100 signatures. Thanks to Joshua Cassity for the link.
35,100 signatures is still 35,099 signatures too many.
3rd party and Independent candidates should be able to pay filing fees and along with their own signature, should be the only signature necessary to obtain ballot position.
This is all that is required of Democrats and Republicans, so why not the same for everyone else?