Analysis: Comparing Politico’s Ballot Access Map with Presidential Campaign Claims

Politico recently published an article examining the current ballot access efforts of Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Cornel West. But how do these findings compare with what has happened within some parties and what the candidates themselves claim?

The article and interactive list, published on Tuesday, explores the current efforts of Oliver, Stein, Kennedy, and West across the country, categorizing the campaigns according to states where ballot access is secured, states where petitions are actively processing, and states where petitioning efforts are still underway. Politico also provides a slightly closer focus on the key swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina, occasionally adding context from the 2020 and 2016 presidential election cycles.

According to the article, Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver is currently on the most state ballots, with 38 states and awaiting certification in one. He is still actively collecting signatures in ten locations. However, it’s worth noting that the information presented by Politico does not address those state Libertarian parties that have pushed back against nominating Oliver, particularly in Colorado, where the party openly said it would not submit paperwork to place him on the ballot earlier this month. Unlike other candidates, Oliver has said relatively little about his current ballot access efforts, and information on public election databases has varied widely.

Oliver is followed in terms of total state ballots by Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who is said to be on the ballot in 20 states and awaiting certification in three. She is actively collecting signatures in 26 other states. This information contrasts with an announcement made by Stein over the weekend when she stated that her campaign is on the ballot in 22 states and Washington, D.C., presenting a discrepancy between the campaign and the Politico article in the states of Idaho, Nevada, and Georgia.

Regarding the two independent candidates, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is said to be on the state ballot in six states. This contrasts with the campaign, which stated as recently as June 25 that it is on the ballot in eight states, presenting conflicting information in South Carolina and Delaware where Kennedy claims he has already secured ballot access. Politico further states that Kennedy is awaiting certification in fourteen states. This aligns with claims from the campaign last week when it announced that Nebraska became its fourteenth state to submit petitions. However, this number has since been adjusted to eleven according to the earlier mentioned June 25 release. The Kennedy campaign is reportedly still collecting signatures in 27 other states.

The Kennedy campaign also maintains a Ballot Access HQ map; however, it does not specify which states have already placed Kennedy on the ballot and which ones are still awaiting certification. Instead, all such states are labeled as “on the ballot,” with the exception of Nevada, which indicates that the campaign has submitted the required number of signatures.

Meanwhile, Cornel West is said to be tied with Kennedy, with ballot access acquired in only six states. The West campaign is awaiting certification in Michigan and North Carolina and continues to collect signatures in 38 states. This also contrasts slightly with information presented by the West campaign, which claims on its own Ballot Access HQ map that West has also already secured ballot access in North Carolina, making it the campaign’s seventh state.

It’s also worth noting that the information by Politico does not differentiate between instances where the West and Kennedy campaigns qualified as independent candidates and those where they received the nomination of another party, although it does make a reference to the Natural Law Party of Michigan.