The Lewiston, Maine Sun Journal has this story, on whether it is possible that the Libertarian Party might poll 5% for either President or U.S. Senate. If the party reached that threshold in either race, it would become ballot-qualified for the first time in Maine since 1991-1992. However, even if the vote threshold is met, the party would need to also organize a town committee in fourteen of the sixteen counties by the spring of 2013.
If the party does that as well, it would then remain on the ballot for the future if it could get its registration up to approximately 15,000. The law would require that it have at least 10,000 registrants who turn out to vote in the general election. It doesn’t matter whom they vote for, but they must vote. This rather strange law for party retention was passed a few years ago by the legislature, which wanted to accomodate the Green Party and find a means for it to remain ballot-qualified even though it might not choose to run a gubernatorial nominee.