Cynthia McKinney has told Atlanta Progressive News that she will attempt to get on the ballot for U.S. House, 4th district, this year, as the Green Party nominee. See this story. Also see this story. She needs almost 19,000 valid signatures. She also must pay a large filing fee (2% of the annual salary) and each petition sheet must be notarized. The people who do the notarization work must not be petition circulators themselves.
If McKinney can accomplish this petition drive, she will have made history. Georgia’s law, requiring a petition of 5% of the number of registered voters, has been in place since 1943, and no minor party candidate for U.S. House has ever succeeded in overcoming it. Independent candidates need the same number of signatures, and no independent has met the petition requirement since 1964. Back in 1964, the signatures did not need to be notarized; no filing fee was needed; and the petition was not due until October, and was not actually checked for validity.
The U.S. Supreme Court has said several times that ballot access laws that are seldom used are probably too difficult. But the federal and state courts in Georgia have upheld the requirement many times. The most recent case lost in the 11th circuit in 2010. The 11th circuit admitted that the law had not been used in 46 years, but said perhaps that is because no one ever tries. There have been serious attempts, but unfortunately the record of those attempts was not in the court record.
McKinney’s petition is due July 10. She must pay the filing fee in June. If she makes a good attempt, but fails, that at least will provide evidence for a new lawsuit. However, there is no reason McKinney doesn’t plan to succeed.