National Public Radio has this comprehensive story about Illinois ballot access laws for minor party and independent candidates. Thanks to many people who sent me this link.

This is one of the few stories about Illinois ballot access that explains that the problem is not only too many signatures, but the fact that Illinois lacks any procedure for a group to transform itself into a qualified party, in advance of any particular election. Illinois is one of only eleven states that lacks any such procedure. Generally Illinois reporters, when they write about ballot access, do not mention this point. The other such states are Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Also Georgia’s procedure only applies to statewide office, not district or county office.

It is possible a bill will be introduced in Indiana soon to set up a party petition procedure.

The Ohio Libertarian Party’s petition to get back on the ballot now has more than 70,000 signatures. The requirement is 54,965. The party expects to finish by December 31, 2017. This is easily the most difficult petition drive being undertaken by any political party during 2017. The Ohio requirement is the second highest number required by any state for new party ballot status for 2018 (when the easier method to get a new party, with the party label, is compared state-by-state).

Only California has a higher number. The California number, approximately 60,000, requires registered members, not petition signatures. The California number can’t be known exactly yet, because the formula is .33% of the total number of registered voters as of the deadline, which is in the future.

On November 21, the Georgia Libertarian Party filed a lawsuit against the nation’s most restrictive petition requirement for minor party or independent candidates, the Georgia petition requirement for U.S. House, for minor party and independent candidates. Cowen v Kemp, U.S. District Court, northern district, 1:17cv-4660. It is assigned to Judge Leigh Martin May, an Obama appointee.

Georgia requires a petition of 5% of the registered voters for a candidate for U.S. House who is running other than as a Republican or a Democrat. The existing law has existed since 1964 and has never been used successfully. Although one independent did get on for U.S. House in 1982, that candidate was not required to comply with the 5% petition because his district had been re-drawn in the spring of the election year. The law only applies to regularly-scheduled elections, not special elections. In special elections no one needs a petition.

The requirement amounts to approximately 20,000 valid signatures. District petitioning is more difficult than statewide petitioning, because every potential signer knows what state he or she lives in, but most potential signers don’t know what district they live in. Also in Georgia, as in many states, the district boundaries are very irregular.

The last time anyone sued over Georgia’s petition requirement for U.S. House was 2008, when independent Faye Coffield sued. The Eleventh Circuit said that because she had not submitted any evidence that anyone had ever tried to petition for U.S. House in Georgia, her case was not strong enough to prevail. The new Libertarian lawsuit will have evidence that at least ten candidates have tried and failed to petition for U.S. House in Georgia. The U.S. Supreme Court has said twice that ballot access laws that seldom get used successfully are probably unconstitutional.

The 39-page Complaint documents that the Libertarian Party has substantial voter support in Georgia for its statewide nominees. The party has polled over 30% in statewide partisan races four times during the last decade. The party is ballot-qualified only for statewide office. The Libertarian Party has placed 2,564 nominees for U.S. House in regular elections during its lifetime, and they have been on the ballot in all states except Georgia.