On March 8, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed HB 1338, which increases the number of signatures for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, from 1,000 signatures to 5,000 signatures.
On March 8, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed HB 1338, which increases the number of signatures for independent presidential candidates, and the presidential nominees of unqualified parties, from 1,000 signatures to 5,000 signatures.
5,000 signatures should be for a slate of candidates.
10,000 signatures in 90 days on a party petitions allows a party to nominate a slate of candidates in Arkansas.
I agree that 5,000 is a bit high for a minor party or independent candidate petition in a state the size of Arkansas.
ND allows for a full slate with 5,000 (i think). Their is a long time to circulate the petition.
I tried to get something passed in MN, but the ballot access bill died in committee.
North Dakota party status petition is 7,000 signatures. Presidential only petition in ND is 4,000 signatures.
Doesn’t Arkansas have several times the population of nd?
It’s about 4x. So adjusting per capita it would be 16,000 for president only or 28,000 for the party in Arkansas to be the same proportion of their population.
North Dakota doesn’t have voter registration, so typically petitions only need about 4,500 signatures for president in North Dakota, because any adult citizen is free to sign the petition and the validity rate is very high. Nevertheless North Dakota’s independent presidential petition is too difficult, as witnessed by the fact that no one used that petition in North Dakota in 2020.
Supposing half of the signatures in Arkansas get rejected because the people who signed weren’t registered the population adjusted numbers for equivalent would still be 9,000 valid / 18,000 raw for president; and let’s say it takes 8,000 raw for party in north Dakota, that would equal 16,000 valid / 32,000 raw in Arkansas. So it still sounds like nd is harder.
Sorry, I messed that up. 8v/16r pres, 14v/28r party? Either way harder. Arkansas also doesn’t have as bad of a winter, although it does have hotter summer’s.
I think richard said in an article that requiring 5,000 signatures would prevent too many parties on the ballot.
The ideal ballot is a blank ballot on which a voter can write whatever name he desires.
FC –
see 2020 AK USA Senator write-in mess –
ZILLION wrong spellings of Sen M.
North Dakota allows a long period of time to collect signatures on a party status petition. I think you could work on it for like 1 1/2 years, or something like that. I might be a similar time frame with a presidential ticket petition, but you need to know the names of the candidates, because they do not allow candidate substitution.
date error –
FC –
see 2010 AK USA Senator write-in mess –
ZILLION wrong spellings of Sen M.
For me, the population is less a concern then finding a max number of signatures that serves state interests, without being anti-competitive.
Yes, I get that even model ballot access bills use a percentage of qualified voters, like 0.1%, but if 5,000 signatures will avoid ballot confusion in any state, why not simply shoot for that as the max requirement?
5,000 signatures would be way easier in California than in Arkansas.