The Libertarian Party of Maine has collected enough signatures to qualify as a political party in the state and secure ballot access going into the 2024 election cycle, according to Libertarian National Committee Region 6 alternate member Bill Redpath, who received recent confirmation from Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows.
“Official word received today from the Secretary of State. We have major party status for 2024. Our presidential ticket will be on the ballot there,” wrote Redpath in a message submitted to the Libertarian National Committee business list on Tuesday evening.
In Maine, organizers typically have two options for forming a recognized political party. The first option is to rally around a candidate for governor or president nominated by petition who received at least 5% of the vote in the most recent general election. If the candidate consents, organizers can choose a party name and file a declaration of intent with ten other individuals not affiliated with any other party.
Alternatively, if there is no candidate to organize around, ten unaffiliated supporters can still establish a new party by filing the appropriate paperwork and enrolling at least 5,000 voters before the deadline.
The Libertarian Party of Maine is also joined by No Labels, which recently submitted enough signatures to qualify as a recognized party with ballot access. As of the new year, Maine officially recognizes five parties: the Democratic, Republican, Green Independent, No Labels, and Libertarian parties.
According to Richard Winger of Ballot Access News, as of the January 2, 2024 deadline, Maine Libertarians had collected at least 5,168 signatures. Winger anticipates that this figure may change in the coming weeks as signatures are still being processed.
Registrations, not signatures. These are LP Voter Registrations, as opposed to just signatures on a petition. A signature on a petition is simply their permission. A Libertarian voter registration is rather more than that.
Last time the Maine Libertarian Party was a qualified party, in 2016-2018, the law said that when a party lost its qualified status, it lost all its registrants. Fortunately since then a federal judge has ruled it is unconstitutional for the state to take away all a party’s registrants when it goes off the ballot. So probably the Maine Libertarian Party will never again need a massive registration drive. Also the party is now going to be listed on the voter registration form as a choice, so its registration will just naturally rise.