Minor Party Presidential Ballot Status, Compared to Four Years Ago at this Point
November 5th, 2010The Libertarian Party now has an automatic spot on the 2012 presidential ballot in 26 states. If it meets the vote tests in New York and/or Utah, that will go up to either 27 or 28. Four years ago at this time, the Libertarian Party had presidential ballot status in 24 states. The changes relative to mid-November 2006, and now, are: gains in Nebraska, North Carolina, and Ohio; and a loss in Wisconsin.
The Green Party now has an automatic spot on the 2012 presidential ballot in 14 states. Four years ago at this time, the Green Party had it in 18 states. The changes relative to mid-November 2006, and now, are: gains in New York, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia; and losses in Delaware, Illinois, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont, and Wisconsin.
The Constitution Party now has an automatic spot on the 2012 presidential ballot in 12 states. Four years ago at this time, the Constitution Party had it in 13 states. Changes are: gains in Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin; and losses in California, Delaware, Montana, and Nebraska.
Parties with the name “Independent Party”, “Independence Party”, “Moderate Party”, “Reform Party”, or “Natural Law Party” are ballot-qualified for president in 2012 in these 13 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. This does not mean that these 13 state parties are necessarily associated with each other. They are all parties without a fixed ideology. The New Mexico Independent Party is still ballot-qualified for president because it met the vote test of one-half of 1% for President in 2008, and New Mexico gives parties that meet the vote test two elections. However, the New Mexico Independent Party appears to be defunct. The others are all functioning and had candidates on ballots in 2010.
November 5th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
If the Libertarians ever get the membership and numbers could that 26 rise to close to 40 in the next 10 years? I see the Republicans losing some ground if they continue as they did under George Bush with this massive spending and debt and voters will have to go somewhere. The LP seems like they are in a good position in relation to ballot access if they can get their message out to people.
November 5th, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Change for SPUSA? I know they gained status in Ohio. They won’t have it under HB 260…if it or a similar law ever passes. Only got 0.83% this year.
November 5th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Number of states is an interesting bit of trivia, but it would be more useful to know how many electoral votes worth of ballots they will be on. How close to 270?
November 5th, 2010 at 7:08 pm
Why is California deemed to be a loss for the Constitution Party? I thought that neither faction of AIP-CA had officially won control over the other yet.
November 5th, 2010 at 7:17 pm
The California state courts seem reluctant to do anything in the intra-party legal fight. As the years drag by with no meaningful judicial action, the reality is that the Alan Keyes faction has been recognized now for over two years. That could change, but the status quo is that no Constitution Party affiliate is now on the California ballot.
November 5th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Thank you, Richard.
November 6th, 2010 at 3:51 am
Could you post the details which parties have ballot access in which states ?
November 6th, 2010 at 4:36 am
How is that automatic spot on the next ballots determined and where could I find some more details on that process?
Agree with Emile about also posting more info on the status of each State…
November 6th, 2010 at 4:59 am
Also…does the (collective number of) political affiliation on voter registrations have any relevance on ballot access by future candidates of that party? How about minor/major party status? Or are strictly the last election results used?
November 7th, 2010 at 9:08 am
Every election is NEW and has ZERO to do with any prior elections.
i.e. Equal ballot tests at EVERY NEW election.
Difficult only for the party hack SCOTUS folks to understand ???
November 8th, 2010 at 11:16 am
How many of the 13 state ballots are for the Ross Perot related Reform Party? I know New York and Kansas are. How about the others?
November 9th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Michigan has a Natural Law Party on the ballot — and it got enough votes to stay on in 2012. But the Reform Party fell off the ballot here after the controversy in 2004 meant it didn’t have any candidates on the ballot. (Which is about the only way a party on the ballot here *can* fall off nowadays.)
November 11th, 2010 at 5:13 am
I thought the Independent Party was apart of the Constitution Party because I read that the Constitution Party absorbed the remainder of the AIP?
November 12th, 2010 at 5:42 pm
The Constitution Party of Montana is disaffiliated and didn’t nominate Chuck Baldwin for President instead they had Ron Paul on their ticket.
November 13th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Is there a site that gives Presidential ballot access information for unaffiliated candidates in each state.
Thank You for any help.