After a sufficient number of signatures were gathered and submitted, Jacob Hornberger and Chase Oliver will appear on the ballot in the first alternative party presidential preference primary in Oklahoma. Filing was from Monday, Dec. 4th, to Wednesday, Dec. 6th, with eight Republicans and six Democrats in their respective primaries.
Oklahoma has a semi-closed system, with the state GOP and LP both choosing to only allow voters affiliated with their respective parties participate in primaries but the Democrats allowing unaffiliated voters to cast ballots in theirs along with those registered with the party.
Oklahoma requires a $5,000 fee or a petition from partisan candidates to obtain a line on the presidential primary ballot. The petition is either 1,000 signatures or 1% of the number of voters affiliated with the party in each congressional district as of the annual report in January.
224 signatures, collected by Chris Powell, were submitted on notarized petition forms for both Hornberger and Oliver along with a statement of candidacy for each. Petitions were submitted for a third candidate but the statement of candidacy to accompany that submission, sent through USPS, was never received. All of the establishment party candidates paid the filing fee.
The last candidate in Oklahoma to qualify for any state or federal ballot by petition was Ross Perot for President for the 1992 general election, petitioning being the only option for Independent presidential candidates until 2020.
Oklahoma is one of several states holding a presidential preference primary on March 5th, known as Super Tuesday. California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina are other Super Tuesday states likely to have a Libertarian presidential primary. Nebraska is expected to have Libertarian candidates in their presidential primary on May 14th. New Mexico’s presidential primary is likely to feature a Libertarian race as well but takes place on June 4th which is after the LP nomination.
Be First to Comment