Independent candidate & third-party ballot access thread

[🇺🇦 Purple 🦄 Unicorn 🇮🇱]

This Wikipedia page shows ballot access for the general election, by state & filing deadlines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

But it's a little more complicated than that:

For example, the page says the filing deadline for NC and GA has already passed for independent candidates. This is true, but not for parties. Parties not only have a lower signature threshold in most states, but also more time to collect them.

That's why Kennedy Jr. created several parties in TX, CA, NC to have more time to collect fewer signatures.

Most deadlines are only coming up from June to early September.

https://ballotpedia.org/Minor_party_presidential_ballot_access,_2024

TX in May will be the first critical state for Kennedy. It has a requirement of more than 100.000 signatures. I am not sure if Kennedy is pursuing the independent candidate route there, or the party route, with fewer signatures and 2 weeks more time. His SuperPAC has been sued by the Democrats for illegally coordinating with the campaign, and his SuperPAC was responsible for collecting the signatures via the party route.

[🇺🇦 Purple 🦄 Unicorn 🇮🇱]

In Idaho, Kennedy Jr. won a lawsuit to extend the March 15 filing deadline, which was ruled unconstitutional.

If the ID state legislature does not extend filing, the judge will extend the deadline.

Kennedy has previously won a lawsuit in UT, which had a very early filing deadline in January (also unconstitutional).

[Compuzled_One]

This Wikipedia page shows ballot access for the general election, by state & filing deadlines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

But it's a little more complicated than that:

For example, the page says the filing deadline for NC and GA has already passed for independent candidates. This is true, but not for parties. Parties not only have a lower signature threshold in most states, but also more time to collect them.

That's why Kennedy Jr. created several parties in TX, CA, NC to have more time to collect fewer signatures.

Most deadlines are only coming up from June to early September.

https://ballotpedia.org/Minor_party_presidential_ballot_access,_2024

TX in May will be the first critical state for Kennedy. It has a requirement of more than 100.000 signatures. I am not sure if Kennedy is pursuing the independent candidate route there, or the party route, with fewer signatures and 2 weeks more time. His SuperPAC has been sued by the Democrats for illegally coordinating with the campaign, and his SuperPAC was responsible for collecting the signatures via the party route.

Kennedy is doing the party thing in Texas with the "Texas Independent Party".

[Steve from Lambeth]

This Wikipedia page shows ballot access for the general election, by state & filing deadlines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

But it's a little more complicated than that:

For example, the page says the filing deadline for NC and GA has already passed for independent candidates. This is true, but not for parties. Parties not only have a lower signature threshold in most states, but also more time to collect them.

That's why Kennedy Jr. created several parties in TX, CA, NC to have more time to collect fewer signatures.

Most deadlines are only coming up from June to early September.

https://ballotpedia.org/Minor_party_presidential_ballot_access,_2024

TX in May will be the first critical state for Kennedy. It has a requirement of more than 100.000 signatures. I am not sure if Kennedy is pursuing the independent candidate route there, or the party route, with fewer signatures and 2 weeks more time. His SuperPAC has been sued by the Democrats for illegally coordinating with the campaign, and his SuperPAC was responsible for collecting the signatures via the party route.

Kennedy is doing the party thing in Texas with the "Texas Independent Party".

Is there a reason why RFK - having taken up the mantle of the We The People Party in literally every other state where he created one - just did a 180 on party naming in Texas and adopted the most generic name possible?

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

This Wikipedia page shows ballot access for the general election, by state & filing deadlines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

But it's a little more complicated than that:

For example, the page says the filing deadline for NC and GA has already passed for independent candidates. This is true, but not for parties. Parties not only have a lower signature threshold in most states, but also more time to collect them.

That's why Kennedy Jr. created several parties in TX, CA, NC to have more time to collect fewer signatures.

Most deadlines are only coming up from June to early September.

https://ballotpedia.org/Minor_party_presidential_ballot_access,_2024

TX in May will be the first critical state for Kennedy. It has a requirement of more than 100.000 signatures. I am not sure if Kennedy is pursuing the independent candidate route there, or the party route, with fewer signatures and 2 weeks more time. His SuperPAC has been sued by the Democrats for illegally coordinating with the campaign, and his SuperPAC was responsible for collecting the signatures via the party route.

Kennedy is doing the party thing in Texas with the "Texas Independent Party".

Is there a reason why RFK - having taken up the mantle of the We The People Party in literally every other state where he created one - just did a 180 on party naming in Texas and adopted the most generic name possible?

A lot of people (including Gavin Newsom's wife) have registered American Independent Party because that is what they thought independents were supposed to do.

[Steve from Lambeth]

This Wikipedia page shows ballot access for the general election, by state & filing deadlines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

But it's a little more complicated than that:

For example, the page says the filing deadline for NC and GA has already passed for independent candidates. This is true, but not for parties. Parties not only have a lower signature threshold in most states, but also more time to collect them.

That's why Kennedy Jr. created several parties in TX, CA, NC to have more time to collect fewer signatures.

Most deadlines are only coming up from June to early September.

https://ballotpedia.org/Minor_party_presidential_ballot_access,_2024

TX in May will be the first critical state for Kennedy. It has a requirement of more than 100.000 signatures. I am not sure if Kennedy is pursuing the independent candidate route there, or the party route, with fewer signatures and 2 weeks more time. His SuperPAC has been sued by the Democrats for illegally coordinating with the campaign, and his SuperPAC was responsible for collecting the signatures via the party route.

Kennedy is doing the party thing in Texas with the "Texas Independent Party".

Is there a reason why RFK - having taken up the mantle of the We The People Party in literally every other state where he created one - just did a 180 on party naming in Texas and adopted the most generic name possible?

A lot of people (including Gavin Newsom's wife) have registered American Independent Party because that is what they thought independents were supposed to do.

I'm aware. (I'm not actually aware; the only AIP I've heard of was John Anderson's.) What I'm asking is - why did RFK not register the We The People Party in Texas like he did everywhere else?

[The Mikado]

This Wikipedia page shows ballot access for the general election, by state & filing deadlines:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballot_access_in_the_2024_United_States_presidential_election

But it's a little more complicated than that:

For example, the page says the filing deadline for NC and GA has already passed for independent candidates. This is true, but not for parties. Parties not only have a lower signature threshold in most states, but also more time to collect them.

That's why Kennedy Jr. created several parties in TX, CA, NC to have more time to collect fewer signatures.

Most deadlines are only coming up from June to early September.

https://ballotpedia.org/Minor_party_presidential_ballot_access,_2024

TX in May will be the first critical state for Kennedy. It has a requirement of more than 100.000 signatures. I am not sure if Kennedy is pursuing the independent candidate route there, or the party route, with fewer signatures and 2 weeks more time. His SuperPAC has been sued by the Democrats for illegally coordinating with the campaign, and his SuperPAC was responsible for collecting the signatures via the party route.

Kennedy is doing the party thing in Texas with the "Texas Independent Party".

Is there a reason why RFK - having taken up the mantle of the We The People Party in literally every other state where he created one - just did a 180 on party naming in Texas and adopted the most generic name possible?

A lot of people (including Gavin Newsom's wife) have registered American Independent Party because that is what they thought independents were supposed to do.

I'm aware. (I'm not actually aware; the only AIP I've heard of was John Anderson's.) What I'm asking is - why did RFK not register the We The People Party in Texas like he did everywhere else?

Just a guess but it's a name that might allow him to take advantage of some "vibes-based soft-secessionist" sentiment. There's a certain type of person who has never really thought things through but grumbles on Tax Day about those damned IRS Feds and drives around with a Republic of Texas bumper sticker and reminisces about the glory* days of Texas' independent years and voting "Texas Independent Party" is right up their alley.

*Note: Texas' 9 year stint as an independent country was not particularly glorious.

I'd think as a Scottish person you could relate to dealing with people with a sort of soft nationalism that doesn't really think through the practical consequences of secession past "there's a lot of oil here so it'll probably work out." (Note this isn't a dig at actual diehard SNP people who HAVE thought through the consequences...you know what I mean)

[Open Source Intelligence]

Individuals from the Libertarian National Committee have said privately they will only be on 48 states, it may be 47 (New York) and may be 46 (Illinois). There are some people I'm aware of at a state level outside of Illinois that are wanting to ensure Illinois ballot access for the party will happen.

A lot of people (including Gavin Newsom's wife) have registered American Independent Party because that is what they thought independents were supposed to do.

I'm aware. (I'm not actually aware; the only AIP I've heard of was John Anderson's.)

AIP = George Wallace, not John Anderson

[Unbeatable Titan Susan Collins]

Individuals from the Libertarian National Committee have said privately they will only be on 48 states, it may be 47 (New York) and may be 46 (Illinois). There are some people I'm aware of at a state level outside of Illinois that are wanting to ensure Illinois ballot access for the party will happen.

Source? And what two states do they think they will definitely not be on?

They made it on all 50 and DC the last two times, although that was before the takeover

[The Mikado]

Individuals from the Libertarian National Committee have said privately they will only be on 48 states, it may be 47 (New York) and may be 46 (Illinois). There are some people I'm aware of at a state level outside of Illinois that are wanting to ensure Illinois ballot access for the party will happen.

Source? And what two states do they think they will definitely not be on?

They made it on all 50 and DC the last two times, although that was before the takeover

Agreed in part. I was banking on them hitting 49 states and missing NY due to them losing automatic ballot access in NY and the threshold for making it onto the ballot there being really high now. Curious which two they think they definitely won't make if NY isn't one of them.

[Open Source Intelligence]

Individuals from the Libertarian National Committee have said privately they will only be on 48 states, it may be 47 (New York) and may be 46 (Illinois). There are some people I'm aware of at a state level outside of Illinois that are wanting to ensure Illinois ballot access for the party will happen.

Source? And what two states do they think they will definitely not be on?

Private meeting I attended. They were not stated. New York I thought would've been brutal to start with, although it was stated separately.

They made it on all 50 and DC the last two times, although that was before the takeover

Current leadership has other priorities to say the least.

[Open Source Intelligence]

No Labels got party-level ballot access to Tennessee which is the first time since 1968 for any entity. Tennessee has a very low threshold to get ballot access, but it's for Independent candidate status with no party identifier. So every Libertarian that's ever been on the Tennessee ballot has been there as Independent.