Home » Battleground Wisconsin »
The Green Party crossed the threshold to secure ballot status for the 2024 presidential election after its candidate for secretary of state got more than 1 percent of the vote Nov. 8.
Meanwhile, the Constitution and Libertarian parties are both in position to maintain their ballot status for 2024 elections after the Nov. 8 results.
It’s particularly noteworthy for the Green Party, which failed to qualify for the presidential ballot in 2020 after the Elections Commission deadlocked on whether its candidate had turned in enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. It required a majority vote of the six-member commission to put presidential candidate Howie Hawkins and running mate Angela Walker on the ballot after a challenge to their nomination papers as independent candidates.
Wisconsin Green Co-chair Dave Schwab said the party collected the required signatures to qualify Sharyl McFarland for the secretary of state’s race with 2024 in mind. She received just under 1.6 percent of the vote in the four-way race that longtime incumbent Doug La Follette narrowly won.
“Sharyl and all of us knew if we got at least 1 percent in that race, we’d get that ballot status, and they couldn’t do to us in 2024 what they did in 2020,” Schwab said.
State law allows candidates to submit nomination papers to qualify for the ballot under a party’s banner. Those parties that then receive at least 1 percent of the vote in any statewide race during a midterm election such as 2022 then can earn ballot status for four years.
To secure their spot on the 2024 ballot, the parties that crossed that threshold must petition the Elections Commission in early 2023.
The Constitution Party — along with the state Dem and Republican parties — met the threshold during the 2018 and 2020 presidential elections. The Libertarian Party hit the mark in the 2020 presidential race.
Only the Dem and Republican parties got at least 10 percent of the vote in a statewide race this fall, which allows them to designate candidates to the commission for the April 2024 presidential primary.
The others have to certify the names of their nominees for president and vice president to the commission by 5 p.m. on the first Tuesday in September 2024.
