Ballot access is the most critical function of our national party. It is important for our nominated candidates in every state to be included on ballots.
Additionally, our presidential candidate gains considerable credibility when we can say that every American voter will have the option to vote for him or her.
Our 2016 election results were sufficient to guarantee ballot access in 37 states and DC for 2018. That put us further ahead than ever before at that stage in the process. Since then, we have achieved 2018 ballot access in Maine and Arkansas. We are working hard to achieve ballot access in the remaining 11 states: Alabama, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Washington.
Requirements and hurdles vary greatly. Some states, such as Washington state, require only a few thousand signatures and will not need assistance from the national party. Other states, such as Ohio, have much higher hurdles and need significant assistance from the national party.
To complete ballot access for 2018, our experts estimate that we will need to spend about $300,000 on ballot access petitioning.
The Libertarian Party has the nation’s experts on ballot access working on our behalf. This is a significant reason that we have made so much progress on this issue. We have a solid team in place and simply need the funds to do the petitioning required to ensure ballot access in the remaining states.