Maine LP has full ballot access

Jorge Maderal

The Maine Libertarian Party was notified by the Secretary of State that it is officially recognized, and has full political party status.

The ballot access laws in Maine were changed in 2013 to allow a group that has at least 5,000 registered voters after filing a Declaration of Intent to become a political party within one year.

The Maine LP submitted 6,742 voter registration forms by the December 1 deadline. A validity rate of 77% was needed to have 5,000 legitimate registrations.

Prior to the new law, a party needed to collect signatures equal to 5% of the vote for the most recent gubernatorial election. This required a significant amount of signatures (over 29,000 for the 2012 election), and had only been accomplished twice, the last time in 1996.

A party can also become recognized by having it’s candidate for Governor or President get 5% of the vote.

To retain party status, the Maine LP must have at least 10,000 registered voters participate in the 2016 general election.