Oklahoma State Senator Kyle D. Loveless (R-Oklahoma City) has introduced SB 896. It changes the definition of “political party” from a group that polled at least 10% for the office at the top of the ballot in the last election (President or Governor) to 2.5% of the same base. Thanks to E. Zachary Knight for this news.
That’s a pretty good improvement there (it would be better than Illinois’ 5%, for instance), I hope the bill manages to pass.
It is certainly a great step forward and if it makes it through unamended, It would be a miracle. However, I would like to see a drop completely to 1%. But like the petitioning requirement, we need to take the steps we can get.
The 2.5% figure is interesting. If that figure had been in place for gubernatorial elections, Jerry Brown, Thomas Ledgerwood, Wes Watkins, and Gary Richardson would have become political parties. Brown (not related to the California governor) got 6.61% as an independent in 1986. Ledgerwood, Watkins, and Richardson got 9.93%, 23.45%, and 14.12% in 1990, 1994, and 2002, respectively. Ledgerwood ran as a Reform Party candidate; the others were independents. Based on presidential results, Ross Perot and John Anderson would have qualified.
Hoshie, your percentages are right for those past independent candidates for Governor, but none of them would have caused a party to remain on the ballot because all of them were on as independents. The only minor party nominee for Governor of Oklahoma in the past 40 years was Hoppy Heldelberg, who was the Reform gubernatorial nominee in 1998. He only got 1.21%. I am puzzled why you say Thomas Ledgerwood ran as a Reform Party candidate in 1990, because the Reform Party didn’t even exist until 1995, and was not on the ballot in Oklahoma except 1996, 1998, and 2000.
Hello Richard, I got the figures from the US Election Atlas site. I’m puzzled about the Reform candidate as well. The site lists Thomas Ledgerwood as a Reform candidate. I just looked at the Oklahoma state elections board and they list him as an independent: https://www.ok.gov/elections/documents/1990_RESULTS.pdf#page=10. I suspect an error somewhere.