Ballot access requirements for political parties in Arkansas

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Note: This article is not intended to serve as a guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

Although there are hundreds of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

HIGHLIGHTS

As of May 2024, Arkansas officially recognized three political parties. See the table below for further details.

In some states, a candidate may choose to have a label other than that of an officially recognized party appear alongside his or her name on the ballot. Such labels are called political party designations. Arkansas does not allow candidates to use political party designations.

To learn more about ballot access requirements for political candidates in Arkansas, click here.

See state election laws

Process for a political party to obtain ballot status

Seal of Arkansas

See statutes: Arkansas Code § 7-7-205

In Arkansas, a political party is defined as a group of voters whose candidate at the last preceding general election for governor or president received at least 3% of all votes cast for the office. The steps a group must take in order to be recognized by the state are described below:

1. The political group wishing to become a recognized political party must file a petition with the Arkansas Secretary of State containing 10,000 signatures from registered voters in the state. The petition must be submitted at least three weeks before the primary, and signatures cannot be gathered earlier than January 1 of the year following the general election.
2. Once the secretary of state certifies the petition, the new political party must nominate candidates by convention for its first general election on the ballot.
3. If the new party receives at least 3% of all votes cast for the office of governor or for presidential elector nominees at that general election, the new party maintains its status and can nominate candidates via primary rather than by convention. If a party does not receive 3% of the vote, it ceases to be a political party.

Political parties

See also: List of political parties in the United States

As of November 2024, Arkansas officially recognized three political parties.

Party	Website link	By-laws/platform link
Democratic Party of Arkansas	Link	Party platform
Libertarian Party of Arkansas	Link	Party platform
Republican Party of Arkansas	Link	Party platform

Noteworthy events

Federal judge blocked 2020 ballot access law for new political parties (2019-2022)

In 2019, the Arkansas state legislature passed legislation increasing the signature requirement for newly qualifying political parties from 10,000 to three percent of the total votes cast for governor in the last general election. At the time, this raised the number of signatures required to 26,746. The new legislation also shortened the deadline to meet the petition requirements and required new political parties to hold a convention to qualify their candidates. The Libertarian Party of Arkansas sued Secretary of State John Thurston (R) over these changes, calling the new legislation unconstitutional.

On July 3, 2019, Judge Kristine Gerhard Baker, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, issued a preliminary injunction barring the state from enforcing the new legislation. In her opinion, Baker wrote, "There is no record of evidence before the Court that explains the State’s interest – let alone a compelling one – in requiring new political parties to meet the 3% requirement, file a petition more than a year in advance of the general election, and collect signatures in a 90-day window."

On July 12, 2019, attorneys for the state petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit to reverse Baker's decision. Instead, the court decided to affirm Baker's preliminary injunction order on June 18, 2020. This temporary injunction blocked the new legislation from taking effect before the 2020 election.

The 2019 legislation required political parties to receive at least three percent of the vote in the top ballot race each election cycle in order to maintain their qualification. Since Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party of Arkansas' 2020 presidential candidate, received one percent of the vote, the legislation required the party to re-qualify for ballot access in 2022. In response, the Libertarian Party of Arkansas sued Secretary of State Thurston again, and the case went back to Judge Baker and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.

On September 30, 2022, Judge Baker struck down the same legislation she had temporarily enjoined in 2019. In her opinion, Baker wrote that the law’s provisions “collectively impose a severe burden on plaintiffs’ rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments and that the State of Arkansas is unable to demonstrate that the statutes are narrowly drawn to serve a compelling state interest.”

Status changes for the Green Party and Libertarian Party (2014)

The Green Party of Arkansas and the Libertarian Party of Arkansas were both recognized political parties during the 2012 elections. However, neither party's candidate received 3 percent of the vote in the presidential election. Because of that, both parties lost ballot status. The Libertarian Party of Arkansas successfully reapplied and was declared a legal political party by the Arkansas Secretary of State in October 2013. The Green Party of Arkansas also successfully reapplied and was declared a legal political party in November 2013. Both parties were qualified to place candidates on the ballot for the 2014 general election.

Petition deadline moved for political parties (2013)

In April 2013, HB 2036 was passed in both the Arkansas House of Representatives and the Arkansas State Senate. This bill moved the petition deadline for political parties seeking official state recognition from April to January 2 and moved the petition deadline for independent candidates from May 1 to March 1. The bill passed unanimously in the Arkansas State Senate and John Walker (D) was the only legislator to vote against it in the Arkansas House of Representatives.

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See also

• Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Arkansas
• Ballot access requirements for presidential candidates in Arkansas
• List of political parties in the United States
• Democratic Party of Arkansas
• Libertarian Party of Arkansas
• Republican Party of Arkansas

External links

• Arkansas Democratic Party
• Arkansas Republican Party
• Libertarian Party of Arkansas

Footnotes

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