Election Returns for Counties that Border Oklahoma Suggest Gary Johnson Would Have Received Over 20,000 Votes in Oklahoma

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate, was not on the ballot in Oklahoma, and Oklahoma does not permit write-ins. But Johnson was on the ballot in all the states that border Oklahoma. In the 46 counties that border Oklahoma (which includes counties in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas), Johnson polled 1.52% of the total vote cast.

If one assumes that Oklahoma would have voted for Johnson at the same level at which voters in neighboring counties voted for him, then Johnson would have polled 20,290 votes in Oklahoma (the Oklahoma vote for President was 1,334,872, and 1.52% of that number equals 20,290).

Johnson is the only minor party presidential candidate in 2012 who was on the ballot in all states bordering Oklahoma, so a similar analysis cannot be made for any other candidate. Jill Stein was not on in Missouri or Kansas; Virgil Goode was not on in Texas, Arkansas, or Kansas.

Oklahoma is a state which has almost always given a higher share of its vote to the Libertarian presidential candidate than that candidate received in the nation as a whole, in the years when the Libertarian has been on the ballot in Oklahoma. In 1980 Ed Clark received 1.07% nationwide but 1.20% in Oklahoma. In 1984 David Bergland received .25% nationally but .72% in Oklahoma. In 1988 Ron Paul received .47% nationally but .53% in Oklahoma. In 1992 Andre Marrou received .28% nationally but .32% in Oklahoma. In 1996 Harry Browne received .50% nationally but .46% in Oklahoma. In 2000 Browne received .36% nationally but .53% in Oklahoma.


Comments

Election Returns for Counties that Border Oklahoma Suggest Gary Johnson Would Have Received Over 20,000 Votes in Oklahoma — 7 Comments

  1. Richard, that’s a very nice piece of statistical analysis. And Govnoment, thanks for asking the very question I was going to ask. So, that means that a rough estimate of how many total votes Johnson/Gray would have received if they had been on the ballot in Michigan and Oklahoma, not counting the possible “multiplier effect” of being able to clain they were on the ballots on all 50 states plus D.C. (something the national LP always fails to appreciate) would have been 1.4 million.

  2. It’s too bad that nobody in the LP listened to my advice in regard to how the LP ballot access petition drive was conducted in Oklahoma. If they did, I believe that Gary Johnson would have been on the ballot there, which means he’d have more votes right now.

  3. So if Johnson had been on the ballot in all the states he would have beaten Ed Clark’s percentage?

  4. #6, no, not quite. I think Gary Johnson got 1.05% of the vote in the places where he was on the ballot, whereas Ed Clark got 1.07%.

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