If Ron Paul runs third party , what is required in terms of signatures?

[krott5333]

I'm assuming there is a minimum number of signatures required to get on the ballot?

What is actually involved in this?

Is there a minimum number of signatures per state?

From whom do we get the signatures?

Who gets the signatures?

Do we need signatures?

blah blah blah please explain

[MayTheRonBeWithYou]

Getting the signatures is the easy part.

[ronpaulyourmom]

It varies state to state. For example minnesota only requires 3000 signatures, but California would require over 150,000. All told we would need to collect around 800,000 signatures.

I read an article that said the whole job could be paid for for about 3 million dollars, but we don't really have to do that given our precinct captain system. HQ could supplement the volunteer work, but no need to pay for it outright.


www.ronpaulwhitehouse.com

[Jae0]

A lot of states deadlines have passed for getting put on th ballot.

[Johncjackson]

Depends on if you mean existing Third Party or Independent/actual new party.

[Johncjackson]

A lot of states deadlines have passed for getting put on th ballot.

I dont think so. Plus if you go on an existing party ballot line you dont worry about it.

[stevedasbach]

I'm assuming there is a minimum number of signatures required to get on the ballot?

What is actually involved in this?

Is there a minimum number of signatures per state?

From whom do we get the signatures?

Who gets the signatures?

Do we need signatures?

blah blah blah please explain

First, it depends on whether he would seek and accept the nomination of an existing third party or if he would plan to run as an independent.

If he runs as an independent, his campaign would have to get itself on the ballot in every state. Ross Perot spent about $15 million doing this in 1992.

If he runs as the nominee of a third party, that party likely already has ballot access in many states and is actively qualifying in the rest. The Libertarian Party is probably on track for ballot access in around 45 states; the Constitution Party probably around 40 (those are guesses based on past performance, not based on current knowledge). The campaign would likely have to devote resources to secure ballot access in the remaining states.

The details of the requirements in each state, and where each minor party currently stands, is available at the website http://www.ballot-access.org. The editor, Richard Winger, knows more about this than anyone else.

[mayorofarlington]

the bigger concern would be getting into the debates --- i think the threshold last time was a 15% average from the major polls...

[ronpaulyourmom]

A lot of states deadlines have passed for getting put on th ballot.

No they haven't. That was for the primary ballots, no general election deadlines have passed yet.

[ronpaulyourmom]

the bigger concern would be getting into the debates --- i think the threshold last time was a 15% average from the major polls...

A recent Rasmussen poll has Ron already pushing 11% depending on who wins in the primaries.

[Jae0]

No they haven't. That was for the primary ballots, no general election deadlines have passed yet.

The primarys are still going on.

[My First Name Is Paul]

According to the executive director of the Libertarian Party, it costs about $8-9 million to get an independent candidate on the ballots in all 50 states. Utah's deadline is two weeks away and requires some horrendous number of signatures. Every state is different and basically the whole system is set up to discourage such runs.

[ashlux]

State signature requirements in 2005:

Oklahoma: 43,913
Texas: 74,108
Kansas: 5,000
Missouri: 10,000
Arkansas: 1,000
New Mexico: 15,126
Colorado: None (pay fee)
Louisiana: None (pay fee)

Oklahoma has the worst ballot access in the entire country.

Source: http://www.oklp.org/obar/issues.html

[ashlux]

Looks like someone has already done a lot of this work for us:

http://colbert08.us/content/view/15/2/

* Alabama

Ballot Access Deadline 9/8/2008
Signatures Required 5,000

* Alaska

Ballot Access Deadline 8/6/2008
Signatures Required 3,128

* Arizona

Ballot Access Deadline 3/6/2008
Signatures Required 20,449

* Arkansas

Ballot Access Deadline 8/4/2008
Signatures Required 1,000

* California

Ballot Access Deadline 8/8/2008
Signatures Required 158,372

* Colorado

Ballot Access Deadline 5/1/2008
Signatures Required 10,000

* Connecticut

Ballot Access Deadline 8/6/2008
Signatures Required 7,500

* Delaware

Ballot Access Deadline 11/30/2007
Signatures Required 290

* District of Columbia
* Florida (will have info soon)
* Georgia

Ballot Access Deadline 7/8/2008
Signatures Required 44,089

* Hawaii

Ballot Access Deadline 4/3/2008
Signatures Required 663

* Idaho

Ballot Access Deadline 8/25/2008
Signatures Required 5,984

* Illinois

Ballot Access Deadline 6/26/2008
Signatures Required 25,000

* Indiana

Ballot Access Deadline 6/23/2008
Signatures Required 32,742

* Iowa

Ballot Access Deadline 8/15/2008
Signatures Required 1,500

* Kansas

Ballot Access Deadline 8/4/2008
Signatures Required 5,000

* Kentucky

Ballot Access Deadline 9/2/2008
Signatures Required 5,000

* Louisiana

Ballot Access Deadline 5/22/2008
Signatures Required 1,000

* Maine

Ballot Access Deadline 8/15/2008
Signatures Required 4,000

* Maryland

Ballot Access Deadline 8/4/2008
Signatures Required 10,000

* Massachusetts

Ballot Access Deadline 7/29/2008
Signatures Required 10,000

* Michigan

Ballot Access Deadline 7/17/2008
Signatures Required 38,024

* Minnesota

Ballot Access Deadline 9/9/2008
Signatures Required 2,000

* Mississippi (coming soon)

* Missouri

Ballot Access Deadline 7/19/2008
Signatures Required 10,000

* Montana

Ballot Access Deadline 3/13/2008
Signatures Required 5,000

* Nebraska

Ballot Access Deadline 8/1/2008
Signatures Required 5,934

* Nevada

Ballot Access Deadline 7/3/2008
Signatures Required 5,746

* New Hampshire

Ballot Access Deadline 8/6/2008
Signatures Required 3,000

* New Jersey

Ballot Access Deadline 7/28/2008
Signatures Required 800

* New Mexico

Ballot Access Deadline 4/1/2008
Signatures Required 2,794

* New York

Ballot Access Deadline 8/19/2008
Signatures Required 15,000

* North Carolina

Ballot Access Deadline 5/16/2008
Signatures Required 69,734

* North Dakota

Ballot Access Deadline ?????
Signatures Required 4,000

* Ohio

Ballot Access Deadline 8/1/2008
Signatures Required 5,000

* Oklahoma

Ballot Access Deadline 5/1/2008
Signatures Required 46,342

* Oregon

Ballot Access Deadline 8/26/2008
Signatures Required 18,356

* Pennsylvania

Ballot Access Deadline 8/1/2008
Signatures Required 27,000

* Rhode Island

Ballot Access Deadline 9/5/2008
Signatures Required 1,000

* South Carolina

Ballot Access Deadline 5/1/2008
Signatures Required 10,000

* South Dakota

Ballot Access Deadline 8/5/2008
Signatures Required 3,356

* Tennessee

Ballot Access Deadline 8/21/2008
Signatures Required 275

* Texas

Ballot Access Deadline 5/27/2008
Signatures Required 43,991

* Utah

Ballot Access Deadline 2/15/2008
Signatures Required 2,000

* Vermont

Ballot Access Deadline 9/12/2008
Signatures Required 1,000

* Virginia

Ballot Access Deadline ????
Signatures Required ????

* Washington

Ballot Access Deadline 7/26/2008
Signatures Required 1,000

* West Virginia

Ballot Access Deadline ????
Signatures Required ????

* Wisconsin

Ballot Access Deadline 9/2/2008
Signatures Required 10,000

* Wyoming

Ballot Access Deadline 6/1/2008
Signatures Required 3,868

[LibertyRevolution]

ok, so we have a list of how many sigs we need. Couldnt we, the grassroots just get him on the ballots ourselves? I said it before and ill say it again. If we the people, draft ron paul into service, he cannot refuse!
"Great men do not seek power, they have power thrust upon them” -Kahless, First Emperor of the Klingon empire.

(I think for upcoming elections, we should really get with the LP, the constitution party, and form a new party.. Liberty Restoration Party.)

[IDefendThePlatform]

That signature and deadline list looks very encouraging mostly. If anyone is reading this in Utah and wants to see an indy RP run, it might be time to think about getting some signatures together. 2,000 is not a lot, but the deadline is in two weeks!

[MayTheRonBeWithYou]

That signature and deadline list looks very encouraging mostly. If anyone is reading this in Utah and wants to see an indy RP run, it might be time to think about getting some signatures together. 2,000 is not a lot, but the deadline is in two weeks!

Good point. We need our Utah people to contact the HQ and ask about what kinds of signatures are going to be needed.