Bridging the Signature Gap

One of the major hurdles which the Bob Barr campaign (along with any other third party candidates) must overcome is the sheer volume of footwork required to even get on the ballot in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. There are a dismaying number of hoops to jump through, none of which are required of the Republicans or Democrats. These can involve not only armies of boots on the ground, but daunting amounts of money.

Just for one example, an independent candidate running for president in 2008 would need to collect 867,134 signatures from voters in all 50 states in order to have their name on the ballot this November. How many signatures did Barack Obama and John McCain have to submit? Zero. While volunteers are great, you still need to pay some workers to get out on the streets and gather that much ink. All of this costs money.

Oklahoma has one of the highest bars to ballot access, and will likely be the one place where Barr’s name will not appear. They require among the highest numbers of signatures per capita, the financial costs are steep and they have one of the shorter runways to complete the process. (You needed to have all of your signatures submitted by July 15.)

To be fair, of course, we absolutely do need some barriers and minimum standards for every state or the ballot could quickly turn into a phone book. (And nobody wants to read a phone book, do they?) It has to take more than someone rolling out of bed one morning and saying, “I think I’ll run for President!” and making a call to a 1-800 number. But what about the third parties which have made their presence known over a period of decades and done all of this footwork in the past?

The Libertarian Party already has fixed ballot access in 26 states, and has consistently fielded candidates in every major election. Fundraising is a huge challenge for third parties as it is. Depleting their resources further each cycle in an effort to simply get on the ballot seems to feed into the perception that the two major parties have consistently passed legislation at the state level to make it increasingly difficult for anyone else to challenge the status quo.

Many of you have been speaking of the need for “change” during this election cycle. Here’s one change for you to consider. What say we open up the playing field a bit more for serious, third party contenders?