Texas petitions for unqualified parties to obtain a place on the ballot may start to circulate on March 9. They are due May 22. Past print issues of Ballot Access News have said the deadline is May 16, but that is incorrect, and this error will be corrected in future issues.
The only unqualified parties entitled to circulate a petition this year in Texas are the Constitution, Reform, Veterans, Christian, Modern Whig, and Socialist Parties. They are the only ones who filed the declaration of intent by January 2, 2016. The constitutionality of the January 2 deadline for doing that has never been adjudicated in court. At least as it relates to presidential elections, it is probably unconstitutional.
Newly-qualifying parties need 47,086 signatures. The Libertarian and Green Parties are already on.
Texas independent candidate petitions are due June 30, unless they are for president, in which case the deadline is May 9. It is very likely the independent presidential petition deadline is unconstitutional. There is no state interest in letting non-presidential independents have until June 30, but saying independent presidential candidate petitions are due May 9. Thanks to Jim Riley for some of the information in this post.
I do not forsee any of these parties completing a successful petition here in Texas.
Now it would be interesting to see if an “independent” (i.e. non-Trump Republican) makes an attempt if some deep pocketed anti-Trump epublicans make a run at putting out an alternate establishment candidate forward.
The cheapest way for an “independent Republican” to get on the Texas ballot would be for the forces behind that to financially support one of the groups that filed the paperwork, such as the Reform Party. The person would probably get 5% or more of the vote in Texas, which would put whatever party nominated that person into qualified status for 2018. So the Reform Party, for example, would probably be eager to go along.
Richard, do you know how many states have “accessible” parties like the Texas Reform Party (or the Natural Law Party here in Michigan perhaps)? Of course, not all of them would be politically inclined to be thrilled to co-operate with any particular “independent Republican”, I suppose.
If Bloomberg had been willing to run, it seems to me plausible that these ballot-qualified parties might have nominated him: Delaware Independent Party, Florida Reform Party, Florida Independent Party, Florida Independence Party, Hawaii Independent Party, Louisiana Reform Party, Massachusetts United Independent Party, Michigan Natural Law Party, Mississippi Reform Party, New York Independence Party, Oregon Independent Party, Rhode Island Moderate Party, South Carolina American Party, South Carolina Independence Party.
Thank you yet again, sir! Let’s see. (This will line up in fixed-width font if consecutive spaces are allowed.)
DE 3
FL 29
HI 4
LA 8
MA 11
MI 16
MS 6
NY 29
OR 7
RI 4
SC 9
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122 total electoral votes from 11 states . . . almost halfway to a potential majority in the Electoral College — or the House, if more partisan heads don’t prevail.
(Come to think of it, would a major alternative candidacy stimulate a reconsideration in state capitols across the country of those questionable “fickle elector” statutes?)
Richard:
Two questions.
First, how many times has a party or candidate qualified for the November ballot using this procedure since it has been in effect?
Second, was the signature requirement percentage similar to this year?
The Texas petition requirement has been mostly unchanged since 1967. Before 1967, Texas didn’t require a petition. 1968: American Party got on. 1972: Socialist Workers Party got on, along with La Raza Unida. 1974: American, Socialist Workers. 1976: American, Socialist Workers. 1978: Socialist Workers. 1980: Libertarian. 1982: Libertarian, Citizens. 1986: Libertarian. 1988: New Alliance. 1996: Natural Law, US Taxpayers. 2000: Green. 2004: Libertarian. 2010: Green.
Oddly, the Reform Party never got on in Texas, except in one county one year. Ross Perot qualified as an independent in Texas in both 1992 and 1996, as did Pat Buchanan in 2000.