The Arkansas Libertarian Party now has almost 10,000 signatures on its petition to regain party status. The law requires 10,000 valid signatures, so the drive is more than half done. Assuming the drive succeeds, the party will then be on the ballot for president in 31 states. Four years ago this month, it was on in 27 states.
9,802 that have been turned into the state party, not including whatever petitioners are holding, which will probably be over another thousand plus by tomorrow.
Now if we can find a way to keep that access past 2016,that would be great.
I know a way. Get lots of votes!
It is not reasonable to expect the Libertarian Party to get 3% of the 2016 vote for President in 2016. The only third parties in the last 90 years that have got 3% for President are the American Independent Party in 1968 and the Reform Party in 1996. The solution is to pass a bill re-defining “party” from one that got 3% for the office at the top of the ticket every two years, to one that 3% for any statewide race. If the election officials get tired of checking minor party petitions, that will help. IT costs them approximately $1 per signature to check petitions. I hope the Arkansas Green Party also does the party petition.
If the Libertarians nominated Bill Clinton for president would he get the 3%? Richard is right that the vote should be based on all state wide candidates. In some states it’s 5% of the governor’s vote for any state wide office.