The Libertarian Party is on the ballot in 30 states after Tuesday’s general election.
The LP attained ballot access in North Dakota for the first time, and lost ballot access in South Dakota, Ohio, and the District of Columbia. The Hawaii and Maryland LPs met the vote test for party retention for the first time in their histories. Both state parties had retained ballot access through petitioning in past years.
In Alaska, the party appears to have retained its party status, as the gubernatorial candidate needed to get 3 percent and appears to have received 3.00 percent.
In Connecticut, the party retained ballot access for the 2nd U.S. House seat for 2016, as the candidate obtained 1.1 percent and 1 percent was need for retention.
In Georgia, the party can continue to run statewide candidates, as several candidates received a number of votes greater than 1 percent of the registered voters in the state.
In Hawaii, the party retained ballot access and met the vote test for the first time, as the cumulative vote of the state Senate candidates exceeded 4 percent of the total votes for all state Senate candidates in Tuesday’s election.
In Idaho, the party retained ballot access by running at least three candidates for state or federal office.
In Indiana, the party retained ballot access as the candidate for secretary of state got 3.4 percent and 2 percent was necessary for retention.
In Kansas, the party retained ballot access as several statewide candidates received at least 1 percent.
In Maryland, the party retained ballot access and met the vote test for the first time ever as the gubernatorial candidate obtained 1.4 percent and 1 percent was needed for retention.
In Michigan, the party retained ballot access as several candidates received more than 1 percent of the vote from the 2012 secretary of state race.
In Nebraska, the party retained ballot access as several statewide candidates got 5 percent.
In Nevada, the party retained ballot access, as several candidates obtained at least 1 percent of the votes cast for the U.S. House races in the state.
In North Dakota, the party attained ballot access for the first time ever as the candidate for secretary of state received 5 percent.
In Texas, the party retained ballot access as several statewide candidates got 5 percent of the vote in their respective races.
In Wisconsin, the party attained ballot access as several statewide candidates obtained 1 percent.
In Wyoming, the party retained ballot access and became a recognized major party (and thus can nominate by primary) as the candidate for secretary of state received 10 percent.
In Iowa, the party narrowly missed attaining ballot access for the first time in its history, as the gubernatorial candidate got 1.8 percent, and needed 2 percent for ballot access.
In New York, the party did not attain ballot access for the first time as hoped. The gubernatorial candidate received 15,585 votes, but 50,000 votes were needed. The party came close to hitting this mark in 2010, possibly because a “weak” Republican was on the ballot that year, which was not the case this year. Election officials may also have suppressed votes by placing the Libertarian’s name in an odd position on the ballot that many voters may have overlooked.
In Illinois, the party almost got ballot access for statewide candidates in 2016, as the candidate for comptroller received 4.8 percent of the vote, just short of the 5 percent necessary.
The Libertarian Party now has ballot access in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia (statewide candidates only), Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
Thanks to Richard Winger, publisher of Ballot Access News, for his assistance in compiling this list.
