Libertarian Party of Tennessee - Ballot Access

Ballot Access

In a joint lawsuit filed on January 23, 2008 by the Libertarian, Green and Constitution Parties of Tennessee against the State of Tennessee, a 1972 state law that limited state ballot access was challenged and overturned. The law had required a petition with signatures amounting to 2.5% of the most recent gubernatorial votes be submitted to the State Board of Elections 120 days before the election in which parties wished to have their party listed on the state ballot. Prior to the lawsuit, the LPTN had never applied for ballot access in Tennessee, though the Populist Party, the Reform Party, the Constitution Party and the Green Party had unsuccessfully applied.

In the September 20, 2010 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge William Joseph Haynes struck down the petition deadline, the precise wording of the petition requirements and the volume of signatures required.

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