Libertarians in Four States Participate in Super Tuesday Presidential Primaries

Libertarians in Massachusetts, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and California participated in presidential primaries during Super Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, results for three of the four states are available, with no sole candidate winning a majority of races at this time.

California experienced the least contested Libertarian Party presidential primary of the night, with only Dr. Charles Ballay appearing on the ballot. Additionally, voters had the option to write in Chase Oliver, who was recognized as a write-in candidate going into the election. Unofficial election results from the California Secretary of State’s office show Ballay winning 11,800 votes. As of this article, write-in results have not yet been included, so it’s unsure how many votes were cast for Chase Oliver.

Editorial note: California vote totals have been updated as of April 30, 2024 based on results outlined in the Statement of Vote produced by the California Secretary of State.

In Oklahoma, the Libertarian Party’s presidential primary featured two candidates: Chase Oliver and Jacob Hornberger. According to unofficial election results from the Oklahoma Secretary of State, a total of 929 voters participated in the primary—the state’s first for Libertarians. Chase Oliver emerged as the winner, receiving 569 votes and accounting for 61.25% of the total. Jacob Hornberger trailed behind with 360 votes.

Meanwhile, North Carolina witnessed the most hotly contested primary race for Libertarians of the night. Ten candidates appeared on the ballot, alongside the option to vote for no preference. According to results from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, 2,042 voters expressed no preference, comprising 40.42% of the total. Among the actual candidates, Chase Oliver secured the highest rank with 671 votes, followed by David Dunlap with 464 votes and Jacob Hornberger with 356.

UPDATE 2: Results have been added from PD43+ as of 3/14/2024. No Preference received the most overall votes, with Chase Oliver receiving the highest number of votes among all individual candidates on the ballot.

UPDATE: The Office of Massachusetts Election Sec. William Galvin informed Independent Political Report that Libertarian Party presidential primary results may not be available for several days to allow for clerks to certify totals. However, over 7,000 ballots were returned before Election Day.

The winner of the Libertarian Party presidential primary in Massachusetts is yet to be determined, as the Secretary of the Commonwealth has not released the results to the public. Yesterday’s ballot featured five candidates: Jacob Hornberger, Mike Ter Maat, Chase Oliver, Michael Rectenwald, and Lars Mapstead. Libertarian and unenrolled voters who pulled a Libertarian ballot also had the option to vote for no preference or write in a name. It’s additionally worth noting that the Libertarian Party primary candidate list was provided by the Libertarian Association of Massachusetts, which is now a state affiliate of the Liberal Party.

Primary results will not influence the Libertarian National Convention later this year, as state delegates are selected at their respective conventions. Independent Political Report has reached out to Massachusetts Sec. of the Commonwealth William Galvin for election result updates and will update this article accordingly.