Ballot Access
The two major parties in the United States, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, had ballot access in all 50 US states and the District of Columbia.
Each state sets its own requirements for candidates to gain ballot access. In some cases it is easier for party nominees to gain ballot access than for independent candidates, so Ralph Nader's independent campaign is associated with parties (pre-existing or newly formed) in some states: PF is the Peace and Freedom Party, NLP is the Natural Law Party, IEP is the Independent-Ecology Party, and IP is the Independent Party. In Kansas, Chuck Baldwin's campaign is associated with the Kansas Reform Party after a legal challenge had been brought to recognize national Reform Party candidate Ted Weill on the ballot.
George Phillies appeared on the ballot in New Hampshire with the label "Libertarian", with Chris Bennett as his running mate.
- Candidates who had ballot access to enough electoral votes to win the presidency
| Electoral Votes | Nader | Libertarian (Barr) | Constitution (Baldwin) | Green (McKinney) | |
| States + D.C. | 51 | 46 (50) | 45 (47) | 37 (49) | 32 (49) |
| Electoral votes (EV) | 538 | 456 (531) | 503 (510) | 318 (516) | 368 (528) |
| Percent of EV | 100% | 84.8% (98.7%) | 93.5% (94.8%) | 59.1% (95.9%) | 68.4% (98.1%) |
| Alabama | 9 | (write-in) | |||
| Alaska | 3 | (write-in) | |||
| Arizona | 10 | (write-in) | |||
| Arkansas | 6 | ||||
| California | 55 | PF | (write-in) | ||
| Colorado | 9 | ||||
| Connecticut | 7 | IEP | (write-in) | (write-in) | |
| Delaware | 3 | IP | |||
| Florida | 27 | IEP | |||
| Georgia | 15 | (write-in) | (write-in) | (write-in) | |
| Hawaii | 4 | IEP | |||
| Idaho | 4 | (write-in) | |||
| Illinois | 21 | ||||
| Indiana | 11 | (write-in) | (write-in) | (write-in) | |
| Iowa | 7 | PF | |||
| Kansas | 6 | (write-in) | |||
| Kentucky | 8 | (write-in) | |||
| Louisiana | 9 | ||||
| Maine | 4 | (write-in) | (write-in) | ||
| Maryland | 10 | IEP | |||
| Massachusetts | 12 | ||||
| Michigan | 17 | NLP | |||
| Minnesota | 10 | ||||
| Mississippi | 6 | ||||
| Missouri | 11 | (write-in) | |||
| Montana | 3 | (write-in) | (write-in) | ||
| Nebraska | 5 | ||||
| Nevada | 5 | ||||
| New Hampshire | 4 | (write-in) | (write-in) | ||
| New Jersey | 15 | ||||
| New Mexico | 5 | IEP | |||
| New York | 31 | (write-in) | |||
| North Carolina | 15 | (write-in) | (write-in) | ||
| North Dakota | 3 | (write-in) | |||
| Ohio | 20 | ||||
| Oklahoma | 7 | ||||
| Oregon | 7 | ||||
| Pennsylvania | 21 | (write-in) | (write-in) | ||
| Rhode Island | 4 | ||||
| South Carolina | 8 | ||||
| South Dakota | 3 | ||||
| Tennessee | 11 | ||||
| Texas | 34 | (write-in) | (write-in) | (write-in) | |
| Utah | 5 | ||||
| Vermont | 3 | (write-in) | |||
| Virginia | 13 | ||||
| Washington | 11 | ||||
| West Virginia | 5 | ||||
| Wisconsin | 10 | ||||
| Wyoming | 3 | (write-in) | |||
| District of Columbia | 3 | (write-in) | (write-in) |
- Other third party candidates
Notes:
- Since Socialist Workers party candidate Róger Calero was constitutionally disqualified to be President, in some states the Socialist Workers Party had James Harris (JH) listed on the ballot.
| Electoral Votes | Prohibition (Amondson) | Socialist Workers (Calero) | Boston Tea (Jay) | America's Independent (Keyes) | Socialism and Liberation (La Riva) | Socialist (Moore) | Objectivist (Stevens) | |
| States + D.C. | 51 | 3 | 10 (11) | 3 (7) | 3 (8) | 12 | 8 (30) | 2 |
| EV | 538 | 45 | 125 (180) | 47 (75) | 91 (168) | 137 | 102 (338) | 36 |
| % of EV | 100% | 8.4% | 23.2% (33.5%) | 8.7% (13.9%) | 16.9% (31.2%) | 25.5% | 19.7% (62.8%) | 6.7% |
| Alabama | 9 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Alaska | 3 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Arizona | 10 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Arkansas | 6 | |||||||
| California | 55 | (JH write-in) | ||||||
| Colorado | 9 | JH | ||||||
| Connecticut | 7 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Delaware | 3 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Florida | 27 | JH | ||||||
| Georgia (U.S. state) | 15 | |||||||
| Hawaii | 4 | |||||||
| Idaho | 4 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Illinois | 21 | |||||||
| Indiana | 11 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Iowa | 7 | JH | ||||||
| Kansas | 6 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Kentucky | 8 | (write-in) | (write-in) | |||||
| Louisiana | 9 | JH | ||||||
| Maine | 4 | |||||||
| Maryland | 10 | (write-in) | (write-in) | (write-in) | ||||
| Massachusetts | 12 | |||||||
| Michigan | 17 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Minnesota | 10 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Mississippi | 6 | |||||||
| Missouri | 11 | |||||||
| Montana | 3 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Nebraska | 5 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Nevada | 5 | |||||||
| New Hampshire | 4 | (write-in) | ||||||
| New Jersey | 15 | |||||||
| New Mexico | 5 | |||||||
| New York | 31 | (write-in) | ||||||
| North Carolina | 15 | (write-in) | ||||||
| North Dakota | 3 | |||||||
| Ohio | 20 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Oklahoma | 7 | |||||||
| Oregon | 7 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Pennsylvania | 21 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Rhode Island | 4 | (write-in) | ||||||
| South Carolina | 8 | |||||||
| South Dakota | 3 | |||||||
| Tennessee | 11 | |||||||
| Texas | 34 | (write-in) | (write-in) | |||||
| Utah | 5 | (write-in) | (write-in) | |||||
| Vermont | 3 | |||||||
| Virginia | 13 | (write-in) | ||||||
| Washington (U.S. state) | 11 | JH | (write-in) | |||||
| West Virginia | 5 | |||||||
| Wisconsin | 10 | |||||||
| Wyoming | 3 | (write-in) | ||||||
| District of Columbia | 3 |
- Other candidates
The tickets below were on the ballot in no more than one state. Those appearing on a single state's ballot are in bold, all others are write-in candidates. Those without party labels are independents. Some do not have vice-presidential candidates.
- Donald K. Allen/Christopher D. Borcik (Ohio, Maryland)
- Jonathan Allen/Jeffrey Stath (Heartquake '08—Colorado, write-in in Arizona, Georgia, Montana, Ohio, and Texas)
- Jose M. Aparicio (Maryland)
- Lawson Bone (Indiana, Maryland, and Utah)
- Jeff Boss/Andrea Marie Psoras (Vote Here—New Jersey)
- Ted Brown, Sr. (Maryland)
- Santa Claus (West Virginia)
- James D. Criveau (Maryland)
- Richard Duncan/Ricky Johnson (Ohio)
- Michael Faith (Indiana)
- James R. Germalic/Martin Wishnatsky (Ohio)
- Mark Graham (Utah)
- Leonard Habermehl (Kentucky)
- RaeDeen R. Heupel (California, Maryland)
- Thaddaus Hill/Gordon F. Bailey (Texas)
- Ronald Hobbs (Maryland and Utah)
- Yonyuth Hongsakaphadana (New Hampshire)
- Keith Judd (Kentucky and Maryland)
- Lou Kujawski (Indiana)
- Bradford Lyttle/Abraham Bassford (United States Pacifist Party—Colorado)
- Frank McEnulty/David Mangan (Colorado)
- Frank Moore/Susan Block (California, Maryland, and Utah)
- Kevin Mottus (Indiana)
- Gary Nettles/Brad Krones (Florida)
- John Joseph Polachek (New Party—Illinois)
- John Plemons (Indiana)
- Platt Robertson/Scott Falls (Ohio)
- Joe Schriner/Dale Way (Maryland and Ohio)
- David John Sponheim (Maryland)
- Lynne A. Starr (Maryland)
- Blaine Taylor (Maryland)
- Jeffrey Wamboldt (We the People Party—Wisconsin)
- Lanakila Washington (Humanistic Party—New York)
- Ted Weill/Frank McEnulty (Reform—Mississippi)
- Jerry White/Bill Van Auken (Socialist Equality—New York)
- Cody Judy (Utah) Conservative Independent Self-published sources, State of Utah Declaration of Candidacy
Read more about this topic: List Of Candidates In The United States Presidential Election, 2008
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—Steven Levy, U.S. writer. Hackers, ch. 2, “The Hacker Ethic,” pp. 27-33, Anchor Press, Doubleday (1984)