January 2010

Ballot Access The 2% Solution

By Greg Tlapek

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It is essential we get two percent or more of the vote for State Auditor or US Senate this year. Failure to do so means we lose our right to list all our candidates on the ballot in 2012.

The cost to regain that level of ballot access is high. According to a July 2009 article at the National Conference of State Legislatures website, “the vast majority of petition campaigns use paid circulators, who are paid between $1 and $3 per signature.” We would want to collect close to 20,000 signatures to meet the requirement of 10,000 valid.

Two percent of the vote in a statewide race, the 2% solution, is a hard fix to get. Since 1992 the Green, Progressive, Natural Law, Reform and US Taxpayers/ Constitution parties have tried to establish themselves in Missouri. None has consistently succeeded.

The Constitution Party will join us on the ballot this year. Their success came as a result of our failure to list candidates in two statewide races in 2008—Attorney General and State Treasurer. They ran a candidate for State Treasurer and got just over two percent of the vote. In all the other races they also listed a candidate and we failed to achieve the two percent threshold, and thereby fix ourselves a spot on the ballot for the next two cycles. Other parties can still petition to get on the ballot this year.

While we could still continue to run some candidates without petitioning, getting two percent of the vote this time is the solution we seek. Ask your friends for their vote. When it comes to getting two percent, one vote makes a difference.