This year, the North Carolina Libertarian Party has 28 nominees on the ballot for state legislative seats. That is more than any other minor party in any state. This post is not including minor party nominees who are also major party nominees in the tally.

This Illinois news story points out that Illinois has no minor party presidential candidates this year, although independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is on the ballot.

The story does not say that this is the first presidential election since 1964 in which Illinois has had no minor party candidates on the ballot, but that is an accurate statement which the author could have said.

In 1964 only the Democratic and Republican nominees were on in Illinois. The Socialist Labor Party pad petitioned,, and no one challenged its petition validity. But it was still kept off because at the time, Illinois had a law requiring a new party to run a full slate of candidates. That year the entire Illinois House was being elected at-large. The Socialist Labor Party petition did not list any candidates for State House. The challengers successfully argued that the petition was invalid because it didn’t include 177 candidates for State House.

The reason the entire house was being elected at-large is that the legislature had failed to pass a redistricting bill that didn’t violate one person, one vote.