Sore loser laws for presidential candidates, 2016

Some states bar candidates who sought, but failed, to secure the nomination of a political party from running as independents in the general election. These restrictions are sometimes called sore loser laws. Richard Winger, editor and publisher of Ballot Access News, has argued that, generally speaking, "sore loser laws have been construed not to apply to presidential primaries." In August 2015, Winger compiled a list of precedents supporting this interpretation. He argued that in 43 of the 45 states with sore loser laws on the books, the laws do not seem to apply to presidential candidates. Winger claimed that sore loser laws apply to presidential candidates in only two states: South Dakota and Texas. See the table below for further details.

Note: The information presented in the table below came from Richard Winger and represents his interpretation of the relevant statutes, legal precedents, and court cases. Sore loser laws may have been enacted before or after the elections noted below. To learn more about sore loser laws in a given state, contact that state's election agency.

Precedents establishing that sore loser laws do not apply to presidential candidates
State	Candidate	Year	Presidential primary party	Primary vote	General election label	General election vote
Alabama	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	6,542	Independent	641
Arkansas	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	14,656	Justice, Integrity, Agriculture	830
California	Roseanne Barr	2012	Green	7,399	Peace and Freedom	53,824
Connecticut	John Anderson	1980	Republican	40,354	Anderson Coalition	171,807
Florida	Gary Johnson	2012	Republican	1,195	Independent	44,726
Georgia	Gary Johnson	2012	Republican	740	Independent	45,324
Idaho	John Anderson	1980	Republican	13,130	Independent	27,058
Illinois	John Anderson	1980	Republican	415,193	Independent	346,754
Indiana	John Anderson	1980	Republican	56,342	Independent	111,639
Kentucky	John Anderson	1980	Republican	4,791	Anderson Coalition	31,127
Louisiana	Ron Paul	2008	Republican	8,590	Louisiana Taxpayers	9,368
Maryland	John Anderson	1980	Republican	16,244	Independent	119,537
Massachusetts	John Anderson	1980	Republican	122,987	Anderson Coalition	382,539
Michigan	John Anderson	1980	Republican	48,947	Anderson Coalition	275,223
Minnesota	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	532	Independents for Economic Recovery	622
Mississippi	Gary Johnson	2012	Republican	392	Libertarian	6,676
Missouri	Gary Johnson	2012	Republican	536	Libertarian	43,151
Montana	Ron Paul	2008	Republican	20,606	Constitution	10,638
Nebraska	John Anderson	1980	Republican	11,879	Independent	44,854
New Hampshire	Gary Johnson	2012	Republican	181	Libertarian	8,212
New Jersey	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	7,799	Six Million Jobs	2,095
New Mexico	John Anderson	1980	Republican	7,171	Independent	29,459
North Carolina	John Anderson	1980	Republican	8,542	Independent Party	52,800
North Dakota	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	7,003	Independent	642
Ohio	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	17,412	(no label)	2,772
Oregon	John Anderson	1980	Republican	32,118	Independent	112,389
Pennsylvania	John Anderson	1980	Republican	26,890	Anderson Coalition	292,921
Rhode Island	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	300	Independent	494
South Carolina	Gary Johnson	2012	Republican	211	Libertarian	16,321
Tennessee	Gary Johnson	2012	Republican	572	Independent	18,623
Vermont	Herb Lewin	1988	Liberty Union	66	Peace and Freedom	164
Washington	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	1,060	Independent	855
Washington, D.C.	John Anderson	1980	Republican	2,025	Independent	16,131
Wisconsin	Lyndon LaRouche	1992	Democratic	3,120	Independents for Economic Recovery	633
Notes: Nine states did not conduct presidential primaries in 2016: Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming. There are no sore loser laws in Arizona, Delaware, New York, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. In Virginia, state law stipulates that "if a candidate is defeated in the primary, his name is not to be printed on the ballots for that office in the succeeding general election." The Dukakis campaign in 1988 suggests that this law does not apply to presidential primaries. Sources: This information was compiled by Richard Winger; it was published in the September 2015 print edition of Ballot Access News.

See also

• Ballot access for presidential candidates
• Election Policy on Ballotpedia

External links

• Ballot Access News

Footnotes

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