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WMU Professor Says Third Party Candidates Likely To Play Spoiler This November

The Albuquerque Republican said “I am proud to see that our state could play a pivotal role in deciding this election”.

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This election’s been marked by wild, unpredictable polls, but that inconsistency only applies to the majority party candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

While Oklahoma’s laws make it hard to get independent or third-party presidential candidates on the ballot, they have been changed to make it easier in recent years. The organization plans to cast Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld, as “the adults” in the run-up to the November election.

Both campaigns say Montana voters are independent enough to deliver significant returns for presidential candidates outside the mainstream. He said that Ohio Libertarians swapped out presidential candidates in 1996 and 2004 without incident.

The unpopularity of presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton could provide a significant boost this November to Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson in Montana – a state that has always been receptive to third-party candidates.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein will also appear on the ballot, as will the candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a socialist political party. The number of signatures for independent or third-party presidential candidates required this year is roughly 40,000, while about 25,000 signatures are needed to become a state-recognized party. “He actually does have a record he can point to as an executive in New Mexico, and that’s the kind of resume that a Libertarian presidential candidate doesn’t always bring to the table”.

Given the various petition deadlines and ballot access rules across states, such stand-in candidates are common, said Carla Howell, the national Libertarian Party’s political director.

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“We are two former Republican governors that served in heavily Democratic states and got reelected by being fiscally conservative and socially inclusive”, Johnson said. Whilst those numbers nearly certainly won’t win Johson the presidency, they’ll undeniably make it more hard for Clinton and Trump to pick up the support they need in the state. They maintain the law effectively eliminated all minor-party candidates from 2014 primary ballots and unfairly disadvantaged third parties going forward. Third party candidates still have time to shake things up.

Gary Johnson will likely appear on the ballot as a Libertarian Party candidate