In five states this year, one ballot-qualified minor party will lose its status as a qualified party because that party is not running any statewide nominees, or it is not running for the only statewide office that affects qualified status.

In North Dakota, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 5% for Secretary of State.  The Libertarian Party, the only ballot-qualified party other than the two major parties, is running for three statewide offices, but not Secretary of State.  The party had chosen a candidate for Secretary of State but he failed to file for the party’s primary, even though he needed no petition and no filing fee.

In South Dakota, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 2.5% for Governor.  The Constitution Party, the only ballot-qualified party other than the two major parties, has a nominee for Secretary of State, but not Governor.  The petition for a gubernatorial candidate to get on the party’s primary ballot, which can only be signed by registered members of that party, requires 250 signatures, and the party only had about 325 registered members and was unable to complete the petition.  No primary petition was needed for Secretary of State.

In Wisconsin, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 1% for any statewide office.  No candidate gathered the needed 2,000 signatures to appear on the Green Party’s primary ballot for any statewide office.  The Green Party has a very strong nominee for the state legislature, and it would be ironic if that candidate, Ben Manski, were elected, while at the same time his party loses its qualified status.

In Montana, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 5% of the winning candidate’s vote for any statewide race at either of the last two elections.  The Constitution Party did not poll enough votes to meet this test in 2008, and in 2010, its “second chance” election, it is not running for either of the statewide offices, so it will go off the ballot.  Primary candidates don’t need any petition in Montana; they just need to pay a filing fee.

In Massachusetts, a party remains ballot-qualified if it polls 3% for any statewide race.  The Libertarian Party is the only ballot-qualified party other than the two major parties.  No candidate qualified to appear on the Libertarian Party primary ballot, because primary petitions are so difficult.  They require 10,000 signatures for some statewide offices and 5,000 signatures for other, less important, statewide offices.  Only registered members of that party, and registered independents, may sign.

As soon as the November 2, 2010 election has been held, the Democratic Party of Washington state, and the Republican Party of Washington state, will no longer be ballot-qualified.  This is because the law defines a ballot-qualified party as one that polled 5% of the vote for any statewide race at the last election, for any of its nominees.  But under the state’s top-two system, which went into effect in 2008, parties won’t have nominees, except for President.

The two major parties in Washington each got over 5% of the vote for President in 2008, so their status as qualified parties was not upset by the 2008 election.  But Washington state has a U.S. Senate race this year, and as soon as it occurs, that race will be the controlling race to determine qualified status for 2012.  At that point, Washington will have no qualified parties.

The Washington state election code does not use the term “qualified party”; the election law term is “major party”, but the language is not consequential.  Only major parties are automatically on the ballot.  Therefore, if the law is not changed, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party will not even be on the November 2012 ballot for president, unless they each submit a petition of 1,000 names.  The petition is due in late July, before either major party will have held its 2012 national convention.  But a 1994 ruling of the Washington Secretary of State says parties may use stand-in presidential candidates on petitions.

Of course, it is very likely that the 2011 session of the legislature will change the definition of “party”.  During 2009 and 2010, the Secretary of State tried to persuade the legislature to amend the definition of qualified party to a group that had polled at least 1% for President at the last presidential election.  That bill, SB 5681, did not pass.

The October 3 edition of the Indianapolis Star has this editorial, advocating several election law reforms, including ballot access reform.  The editorial is good, but it omits a lot of relevant information.  Indiana is one of only four states in which Ralph Nader never appeared on the ballot, even though he placed third in the presidential elections of 2000, 2004, and 2008.  The editorial should have mentioned that.  Other important minor party and independent presidential candidates who have been omitted from Indiana’s ballot include John G. Schmitz in 1972, Eugene McCarthy in 1976, and Ron Paul in 1988.  Parties that never qualified a statewide candidate in Indiana include the Natural Law Party, the Green Party, and the Constitution Party.

Indiana is the only state with difficult ballot access in which there never seems to be any activism to change the laws.  One problem is that Indiana legislative rules require bills to be introduced in December of the year before the session starts.  Now is the time for anyone who lives in Indiana, and who wants to do something about the ballot access problem, to be seeking legislators to sponsor bills in 2011.  Thanks to Mark Rutherford and also Jay Parks for the link.