3rd party/Indie ballot access megathred

[MisterElection2001]

There were a lot of ballot acces deadlines in the past two days, so I'd thought I'd compile the recent news here. If I missed any news, feel free to comment!

*Note: (i) = independent deadline, (p) = party deadline

Recent ballot access deadlines

• August 1st - Arkansas (i/p), Missouri (i/p), Nebraska (i/p), New Jersey (i/p), Pennsylvania (i/p)
• August 2nd - New York (i/p)

Arkansas
Rocky De La Fuente, Thomas Hoefling,  Jim Hedges, and Lynn Kahn filed independent petitions. The Constitution Party, Green Party and Better for America also recently submitted petitions to become ballot-qualified. Both petitions required only 1,000 valid signatures, so it's safe to say that everyone who filed will be on the ballot.
Source: http://ballot-access.org/2016/08/02/seven-presidential-petitions-filed-in-arkansas/

Missouri
The Green Party was the only party to file a statewide petition.
Source: http://ballot-access.org/2016/08/02/green-party-is-only-group-to-file-a-statewide-petition-in-missouri/

Nebraska
Jill Stein was the only independent presidential candidate to file a petition. The Marijuana Party was the only group to file a party petition.
Source: http://ballot-access.org/2016/08/02/two-statewide-petitions-filed-in-nebraska/

New Jersey
The Libertarian, Constitution, Green, Socialist Workers, Workers World and Socialism & Liberation parties had their petitions verified and validated. Rocky De La Fuente was the only independent to file a petition, which has also been verified and validated. The Socialist and Prohibition parties submitted petitions, but didn't have their petitions validated. The Socialist Party didn't get enough signatures, whilst the Prohibition Party didn't have thier petition checked due to a technicality, so both will not be on the general election ballot.
Source: http://ballot-access.org/2016/08/02/new-jersey-elections-office-receives-eight-petitions-for-president/#comment-282996

New York
The Libertarian Party submitted their ballot access petition. Rocky De La Fuente plans to file his petition as an independent by postal mail. As long as the mailed petition is postmarked August 2nd, it is valid.
Source: http://ballot-access.org/2016/08/02/libertarian-party-is-only-group-to-file-petition-for-president-in-new-york/

Pennsylvania
The Libertarian, Green, and Constitution parties all filed petitions. The only independent to file a petition was Rocky De La Fuente.
Source: http://ballot-access.org/2016/08/02/four-statewide-petitions-filed-in-pennsylvania/

[Tender Branson]

Green Party signature coordinators across the country are reporting an influx of Bernie Sanders supporters to the Greens’ campaign. How far the new momentum will take the party in the 2016 election is yet to be seen. The first order of business is to get the Greens recognized on state ballots, or at least to get Jill Stein, the presumptive presidential nominee, recognized as an independent presidential candidate.

As of August 1

Several ballot access deadlines hit this week. In addition to the 24 states where Greens have party status, signature coordinators in Kansas, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania have turned in enough signatures to get Jill Stein on their state’s ballot. South Dakota is the only state, with a deadline this week, that reported insufficient signatures. State coordinator, Jay Pond, said that though they missed the presidential ballot, they will be working hard on down ballot campaigns.

Deadlines Coming Up

States with deadlines by August 15 include Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. Of these, only New Hampshire is in question. According to Tom Yager, the co-chair of the national Greens Ballot Access Committee, New Hampshire does not have an organized party, but Rick Lass, the ballot access coordinator for Stein, says they have people in New Hampshire, and have collected 2,000 of the 3,000 signatures needed.

Alaska had no party until a few months ago, when a defector from the Sanders campaign, Orren Wilkinson, moved into the Stein camp and started organizing. He said that an anonymous person, paid for by the Stein campaign, singlehandedly collected all of the 5,000 signatures needed to get Stein on the ballot. Wilkinson said that he is expecting more defectors from Sanders and the Democratic Party to join him this election season.

Alabama counted 4,600 of their required 5,000 signatures on August 1. Connecticut also confirmed that they have already met their signature requirements.

End of August

By August 31, 8 more states will hit their signature petition deadlines: Iowa, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. Of these, Greens are sure that they will have Stein on the ballot in Iowa, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Utah.

Idaho, Montana, and Virginia are extremely optimistic about their campaigns, and expect to have Stein on the ballot.

Wyoming is challenging, Yager said, because signature campaigns have a low validity rate. Lass says two seasoned Greens, and two Bernie defectors are leading a team of 25 volunteers to get Wyoming their 3,302 required signatures.

Tennessee only needs 275 signatures to get an independent candidate on the ballot. Despite this low requirement, Greens are challenging (and have been for several years) the “onerous requirement” of 40,000 signatures to get party status. Kate Culver, the Greens co-chair in Tennessee, said they don’t want their candidate listed as an independent, because independents are lumped together on the ballot, and their candidate loses ground from party recognition.

Culver remarked that the average acceptance rate for signature petitions is 70%. Collectors across the country aim to exceed signature requirements to be safe. Where totals are close to state requirements, the Greens may fall short due to invalid signatures. Such was the case in Nevada, where Greens turned in well over the 5,000 requirement, but did not gain access to the ballot, due to a high number of invalid signatures. Greens are currently challenging the invalidated signatures in Nevada.

Closing out the Ballot Campaign

The rest of the states in question, North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Kentucky, have until September 9 to finish their signature petitions. Rhode Island has already met its signature requirements.

North Dakota, a state with historically little Green organization, has 5 Sanders defectors working on behalf of Greens, according to Lass. Lass is confident that North Dakota will get their 4,000 required signatures by September 5.

Kentucky representatives are also confident that they will finish strongly, and get Stein on the ballot.

States That are Out

States that have not made it on the ballot include South Dakota (as mentioned earlier), Indiana, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.

Indiana and North Carolina are running write-in campaigns, but Oklahoma cannot. Yager says it is highly likely that Greens will join a lawsuit in Oklahoma to challenge ballot access laws.

According to Lass, Greens are reaping benefits from “the way that the DNC treated Bernie.” He said that people who were voting for the first time got frustrated with the behavior of the Democrats, “from Debbie Wasserman Shultz, to the Nevada Caucus,” and that the Greens were ready for the defectors.

“Greens have been building for years, with a similar message,” he said.

Rick Lass, and every other ballot coordinator contacted, without exception, remarked that there are many people coming into the Green Party from the Sanders campaign.

“At least 6 state coordinators are Berners,” Lass said. He said more are regional directors, and more still are coming in as volunteers.

Lass has been involved with the Greens since 1995, and says this year feels different to him.

“There is so much energy, ” he said. “People are excited about changing the system.”

The next goal for Greens, he said, after getting on the ballot in as many states as possible, is to get Jill Stein into the presidential debates. Lass believes that putting Stein on the stage with Clinton, Trump, and possibly Gary Johnson will open up the peoples’ eyes to the fact that there are choices outside the two-party system, and that there is justification for changing our electoral system to grant greater access to would-be candidates.

https://ivn.us/2016/08/02/jill-stein-ballot-access-gains

[Tender Branson]

So it seems that Stein only missed NC, OK, IN and SD so far and is on track to be on the ballot in almost all of the other states ...

[Sorenroy]

Made a little map based on their ballot access site.

Blank = No Ballot Access
>90%R = Official Write-In
>40%R = Actively Petitioning
>40%I = Filed
>90%I = On the Ballot

To break that down into Electoral Vote Numbers:
Stein's max is 531,
Stein has the chance to be on the ballot (not a write-in) on 505,
Stein will be on the ballot (unless denied) on 414,
and Stein is already on the ballot on 334.

[OwlRhetoric]

Why did she miss SD? I wasn't aware that's a difficult state to get ballot access in.

[Sorenroy]

Why did she miss SD? I wasn't aware that's a difficult state to get ballot access in.

Not exactly sure about the SD requirements, but from looking at the map in the past, it seems like they just fill in every state as "actively petitioning" until they file for ballot access. It could be she just hasn't submitted the SD paperwork yet.

[Tender Branson]

Johnson/Weld (L) are now on the ballot in 41 states + DC.

https://www.lp.org/2016-presidential-ballot-access-map

Stein/Baraka (G) are on the ballot in 31 states + DC. They have filed enough signatures in another 6 states so far and 7 states have deadlines coming in the next days/weeks.

In 6 states, they will definitely not be on the ballot (GA, NC, NV, IN, OK and SD).

http://www.jill2016.com/ballot_access

Castle/Bradley (C) are on the ballot in 23 states now, with a chance at another 7.

https://www.constitutionparty.com/get-involved/election-central/ballot-access

[ElectionsGuy]

Even if everything goes right for the Constitution Party, they will only be on the ballot (not counting write-in status) in 268 electoral votes. So Johnson/Stein are the only third parties with the ability to win.

[LLR]

Even if everything goes right for the Constitution Party, they will only be on the ballot (not counting write-in status) in 268 electoral votes. So Johnson/Stein are the only third parties with the ability to win.

Thank god! I was worried about a Constitution Party victory.

[Sorenroy]

Original map per http://www.constitutionparty.com/get-involved/election-central/ballot-access/

So I was wondering around looking at ballot access numbers and found out that Wikipedia now lists Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party as one of the five "major" candidates. The following is a map of where he appears on the ballot:

Darrell Castle currently has his name on the ballot in 23 states worth 214 electoral votes (>90% saturation), has his name either pending or "in progress" (whatever that means) in an additional seven states worth 54 EVs (>40% saturation), is an official write-in in three states worth 58 EVs (>20% saturation), and is a pending write-in in 16 more states +DC worth 205 EVs (>0% saturation). The only state in which he currently is either not on the ballot or not working to be on the ballot is Oklahoma (>10% saturation).

Anyway, the main question I find myself asking is: "Does the fact that he has his name on the ballot or is an official write-in in states totaling 272 electoral votes make him eligible for the debates if he gets 15% in polls or not?" (Of course, the question is purely hypothetical, as the chances of him winning are far less than one in a billion.)

Sadly, I can find nothing on this through Google, and the CPD website is frustratingly vague: "...candidates must appear on a sufficient number of state ballots to have a mathematical chance of winning a majority vote in the Electoral College..."

Anyway, I come to you, the wise men (and woman) of Atlas to ask you this: does Castle ballot good?

(PS: Even if Castle got on the ballot in the seven states he is currently contesting over, he would still be two shy of that glorious 270 number, sitting at only 268.)

(PPS: I lean toward "No", seeing as he would not appear on your state ballot if he was a write-in unless you put his name on the ballot yourself, but I thought it was at least interesting enough to post on here.)

[Blue3]

Constitution Party doesn't deserve to be on the same level as even Libertarian/Green

Plus isn't it usually a mix of Theocracy with Trumpism?

[DINGO Joe]

Constitution Party doesn't deserve to be on the same level as even Libertarian/Green

Plus isn't it usually a mix of Theocracy with Trumpism?

Isn't Trumpism Theocracy with Trump as God?

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

It's good enough to get him into the free and equal debate (In 2012 they let in the Justice nominee even though he only had like 145 EVs of ballot access but got to 270 via write ins.). The CPD is irrelevant because he'll never poll at 15%.

[kyc0705]

Constitution Party doesn't deserve to be on the same level as even Libertarian/Green

Plus isn't it usually a mix of Theocracy with Trumpism?

Isn't Trumpism Theocracy with Trump as God?

[Lyin' Steve]

This idea that someone who gets their name on 270 EV ballots should be in the debates is dumb.  Getting your name on those ballots isn't a particularly difficult barrier.  You need a couple people to collect signatures for you and a fair amount of money, that's all it really takes.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

This idea that someone who gets their name on 270 EV ballots should be in the debates is dumb.  Getting your name on those ballots isn't a particularly difficult barrier.  You need a couple people to collect signatures for you and a fair amount of money, that's all it really takes.

I can understand that sentiment, but they should at least make the polling standard more fair and sensible. It makes no sense that the % required to get federal funding for the next election is 5% (and the number to secure access on a given state's ballot for the next election is generally somewhere in that ballpark), but the % required to debate is 15%.

[Heisenberg]

This idea that someone who gets their name on 270 EV ballots should be in the debates is dumb.  Getting your name on those ballots isn't a particularly difficult barrier.  You need a couple people to collect signatures for you and a fair amount of money, that's all it really takes.

I can understand that sentiment, but they should at least make the polling standard more fair and sensible. It makes no sense that the % required to get federal funding for the next election is 5% (and the number to secure access on a given state's ballot for the next election is generally somewhere in that ballpark), but the % required to debate is 15%.

I totally agree that it makes no sense that the thresholds for the debates and for federal funding are different. Also, do the votes Johnson gets as an independent or write in count towards the 5%?

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Independent I believe does. Write-In varies state by state. Some states count everything, others require that a candidate pay a fee or meet a smaller signature requirement, others require that the total of all write-in votes is greater than the total for any given on-ballot candidate, still others only count write-ins in recount/court order situations.

[rob in cal]

  According to ballot access news, the Constitution Party won't make the Ohio ballot, which would be good news for Trump if things tighten up.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Constitution Party doesn't deserve to be on the same level as even Libertarian/Green

Plus isn't it usually a mix of Theocracy with Trumpism?

Depends on the nominee.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

https://www.facebook.com/MikeSmith4President/photos/a.251978571813471.1073741828.248269055517756/322064331471561/?type=3&theater

He is the guy I posted about back in the late spring.

[Classic Conservative]

Who the hell is this

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Some 37 year old rich businessman and veteran from Tennessee and Colorado who decided to run as an independent right around the time Trump got the nomination

[Heisenberg]

Some 37 year old rich businessman and veteran from Tennessee and Colorado who decided to run as an independent right around the time Trump got the nomination

Do you know him personally? (Don't remember your previous post about him)

[Ronnie]

I couldn't think of a more generic name than "Mike Smith" if I tried.