The partially counted results in some states indicate that the Libertarian Party has increased its “party” status nationwide, by adding West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, New Mexico, the District of Columbia, and to a partial extent, Connecticut.
In West Virginia, a party is a group that polls at least 1% for Governor, and Governor is only up in presidential years. The Libertarian nominee for Governor has 1.4%, with 44% of the votes counted. The Libertarian Party only met this hurdle once before, in 1996.
In Pennsylvania, the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate is polling more than 2% of the winning candidate’s vote total for U.S. Senate. This will restore the party’s status as a “party”, which it last had in the period ending November 2010. However, Pennsylvania law is so peculiar, being a “party” doesn’t give much benefit. It enables the group to be on the November ballot automatically for special elections, and puts the party on the voter registration form, but it isn’t on the ballot for regularly-scheduled elections unless it has registration of 15% of the state total.
In Connecticut, the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate is polling 1.7%, which means the party will be on the ballot automatically for that office in 2016. The Connecticut vote test is 1%, but it only applies office-by-office. The Connecticut Libertarian Party has never before had qualified status for any of the three important statewide offices, i.e., President, Governor, or U.S. Senator.
In Wisconsin, the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate is polling 2.8%, which restores the party’s status as a qualified party, which was lost in 2010. The vote test is 1% for any statewide office.
In New Mexico, with 16% of the vote counted, Gary Johnson is polling 3.4%. This is easily enough to keep the party’s status as a qualified minor party (which only requires one-half of 1%) for four years, but falls short of the 5% needed for the more desirable major party status. In New Mexico, a qualified minor party is only on the ballot automatically for President. For all other office, it needs petitions for each of its convention nominees. If Johnson had polled 5%, the party would have its own primary and would not need petitions for its nominees. The candidates would still need a petition to get on the party’s primary ballot, but the number of signatures for that would be quite low.
In the District of Columbia, where the Libertarian Party has never had “party” status, a group needs 7,500 votes for any partisan office other than shadow member of Congress. The Libertarian Party nominee for Delegate to Congress (an office which does count) is polling 5.1%, so it appears he will easily poll 7,500 votes. With only 30% of the vote counted he has over 4,000 votes. See this story.
The party’s status in North Carolina seems safe. The party needs to poll at least 2% for Governor (or President), and at the current tally, the party has 2.11% for Governor, with 96% of the vote counted.
