One of the oddities of history is that Oklahoma has only had one presidential nominee of a party of the left on its ballot since 1936, the last year the Socialist Party was on the ballot in that state. In 1948, when former vice-president Henry Wallace was the Progressive Party presidential nominee, he got on the ballot in all states except Illinois, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. In 1988, Lenora Fulani, nominee of the New Alliance Party, qualified in Oklahoma.
Even Ralph Nader never got on the Oklahoma ballot in any of his four presidential runs (1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008). No Marxist party ever was able to get on the Oklahoma ballot for president, not even the Communist Party, which did place a presidential nominee on the ballot in almost all other states at one time or another. In the Communist Party’s history, the only other states in which it never got on for president (in the 48 states that existed before 1958) were Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
But in 2017, the Oklahoma law was changed, so that instead of a very large number of signatures, a minor party or independent presidential candidate could also get on the ballot with a very large filing fee, $35,000. For 2024, the alternative to that fee is a petition to recognize a new or previously unqualified party of 35,592 signatures. The filing fee alternative permits a party label other than just “independent.”
Assuming Cornel West becomes the presidential nominee of the Green Party in 2024, and perhaps also of the People’s Party, or both parties, it will be interested to see if he gets on in Oklahoma.