The Libertarian Party has had nominees on the ballot for Governor and/or U.S. Senator in all 50 states. But only in Tennessee have the Libertarian nominees been unable to have their party label on the ballot, except in 2000.

When one examines the best percentage ever for a Libertarian for Governor or U.S. Senator in each state, in only three states is there no instance when a Libertarian for those offices managed to get as much as 1%. They are Tennessee, Maine, and Rhode Island. The main reason there are no such examples in Maine and Rhode Island is that there have been so few Libertarians on the ballot for Governor and U.S. Senate in those two states. Rhode Island is the only state in which the party has never been on the ballot for U.S. Senate.

In Tennessee, minor party nominees suffer because they only have the label “independent” next to their names, and most voters don’t know who the minor party nominees are. Tennessee won’t permit party labels except for qualified parties, and the petition to be a qualified party is so difficult, no group has ever used it since 1968, when George Wallace’s American Party did it. It requires 56,083 signatures.

As has previously been reported, the Iowa legislature this year passed rules for party caucuses that ban caucus delegates who aren’t physically present. This analysis explains how that impacts the Libertarian Party, which is the only ballot-qualified party in Iowa other than the Republican and Democratic Parties. The author, Joseph Howe, a former state chair of the Iowa Libertarian Party, suggests that the party might sue, or it might ignore the new law.

On June 6, Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador issued an opinion, saying the initiative to set up a top-four system, which is about to start circulating, violates the “single-subject” rule for initiatives. The opinion says that whether or not Idaho should use ranked choice voting is a separate subject than whether to abolish the ability of parties to have nominees.

If the proponents of the initiative wish to go ahead, they are free to do so. The Attorney General’s Opinion does not prevent the proponents from sticking to their text.

The Opinion also says that the State Constitution, which requires election by plurality, does not permit Ranked Choice Voting.