Joe Schwarz, a former Republican congressman from Michigan, will say on Monday, March 1, whether or not he will run for Governor as an independent. See this story. Michigan has never had an independent candidate for Governor on a government-printed ballot. Michigan didn’t permit independent candidates for any office, until courts forced the state to create such provisions in 1988.
Schwarz would need 30,000 valid signatures. If he runs, he would be at a disadvantage because independent candidates in Michigan get the lowest spot on the ballot. Also, parties have straight-ticket devices, but of course there is no such thing as a straight-ticket device for independent candidates.
Where can I sign a petition! From what I’ve heard of him I would vote for him. We NEED a moderate, not a wing-nut, as governor.
Could he run as a Green Party candidate, and have automatic ballot access?
He could run as the nominee of any ballot-qualified party, not only Green, but Libertarian, Natural Law, or U.S. Taxpayers.
Then he’d have to get that party’s nomination at its state convention. If he does this, it might be a big boost for the party he picks — if he gets 5% of the total votes cast for Secretary of State, they would qualify for the 2012 regular (not Presidential) primary. OTOH, that party would have to then organize its state central committee as required by law — and, because it was participating in the primary, it would lose direct control over nominating candidates by conventions and caucuses. A mixed blessing, perhaps — but probably a blessing on balance . . . if the initial match is close enough that the people it brings to the party are compatible with its beliefs.
(No fusion here in Michigan, BTW. In fact, if you file a petition or pay a fee to get on the primary ballot as an R or a D, you have three days to drop out. After that deadline date — always a Friday — you’re stuck on the primary for that party and can’t switch and run for any other party or as an independent. You could run a write-in campaign . . . but voters can’t find out at the polling place who if anybody has filed to be an official write-in, even though each polling place must have that list so they know which write-in votes are to be counted and which aren’t. You have to go to your local clerk’s office to ask.)