While supporters of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader turned in petitions Friday that could enable him to gain ballot access in the Mountain State in November, workers for two other candidates continued to collect signatures around the state.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - While supporters of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader turned in petitions Friday that could enable him to gain ballot access in the Mountain State in November, workers for two other candidates continued to collect signatures around the state.
Libertarian nominee Bob Barr's supporters set up a booth at Charleston's Rib Fest on Friday, in an effort to get the required 15,118 valid signatures of registered voters by Aug. 1, the last day to submit them.
"We'll go to the very end, working from morning to night," vowed Andrew Davis, a spokesman for the campaign's West Virginia project.
So far, they are well behind Nader's effort and are trailing the Constitution Party's push to get its nominee, Chuck Baldwin, on the state ballot.
The secretary of state sends all of the signatures to county clerks in the 55 counties who must validate the signatures and ensure they are registered voters. State law says they must collect signatures from 2 percent of the number of those who voted in the last presidential election.
For sure, there will be three presidential candidates on West Virginian's November ballot, but state election
officials said they couldn't recall when there were as many as six candidates on the state ballot.
Those guaranteed slots include the Democratic, Republican and Green parties. The Green Party, like the Libertarian, chose a former member of Congress from Georgia as its nominee.
Cynthia McKinney will appear under the banner of the Mountain Party on West Virginia's ballot after the state's third political party aligned itself with the national Green Party. Because the Mountain Party is already recognized as a legitimate West Virginia political party, McKinney is guaranteed a spot on the ballot.
Not so for the others.
Nader's Independent Party submitted about 7,500 more signatures Friday, bringing its total number of signatures submitted to close to 25,000.
Of the initial 17,073 signatures submitted, county clerks have validated 11,691, with 170 still under review, the secretary of state's figures show. Clerks ruled as invalid 5,209 of them.
Albert Marino, state Nader coordinator, said the campaign believes this batch of signatures will be enough to place them on the ballot.
"A lot of people in West Virginia have been switching to independent because they're tired of the two parties," he said.
The Constitution Party submitted 10,227 signatures so far and has had 6,744 validated with about 2,000 still under review, said Sarah Bailey, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Betty Ireland.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - While supporters of independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader turned in petitions Friday that could enable him to gain ballot access in the Mountain State in November, workers for two other candidates continued to collect signatures around the state.
Libertarian nominee Bob Barr's supporters set up a booth at Charleston's Rib Fest on Friday, in an effort to get the required 15,118 valid signatures of registered voters by Aug. 1, the last day to submit them.
"We'll go to the very end, working from morning to night," vowed Andrew Davis, a spokesman for the campaign's West Virginia project.
So far, they are well behind Nader's effort and are trailing the Constitution Party's push to get its nominee, Chuck Baldwin, on the state ballot.
The secretary of state sends all of the signatures to county clerks in the 55 counties who must validate the signatures and ensure they are registered voters. State law says they must collect signatures from 2 percent of the number of those who voted in the last presidential election.
For sure, there will be three presidential candidates on West Virginian's November ballot, but state election
officials said they couldn't recall when there were as many as six candidates on the state ballot.
Those guaranteed slots include the Democratic, Republican and Green parties. The Green Party, like the Libertarian, chose a former member of Congress from Georgia as its nominee.
Cynthia McKinney will appear under the banner of the Mountain Party on West Virginia's ballot after the state's third political party aligned itself with the national Green Party. Because the Mountain Party is already recognized as a legitimate West Virginia political party, McKinney is guaranteed a spot on the ballot.
Not so for the others.
Nader's Independent Party submitted about 7,500 more signatures Friday, bringing its total number of signatures submitted to close to 25,000.
Of the initial 17,073 signatures submitted, county clerks have validated 11,691, with 170 still under review, the secretary of state's figures show. Clerks ruled as invalid 5,209 of them.
Albert Marino, state Nader coordinator, said the campaign believes this batch of signatures will be enough to place them on the ballot.
"A lot of people in West Virginia have been switching to independent because they're tired of the two parties," he said.
The Constitution Party submitted 10,227 signatures so far and has had 6,744 validated with about 2,000 still under review, said Sarah Bailey, spokeswoman for Secretary of State Betty Ireland.
Libertarians have submitted 1,094 signatures from 10 counties so far, though they all remain under review, Bailey said.
"We're well on our way," Davis said, adding people's "reaction has been very positive here."
His party currently has about 50 people in the state collecting names.
Davis and Marino said their candidates plan to campaign in West Virginia.
"This is a state we're going to try to win because the other candidates aren't giving it much attention," Thomas Hanson, a Nader supporter, said Friday morning at a press conference.
Hanson said mentioning Nader's single-payer health care plan got West Virginians to sign Nader's petitions. After that, he said, "people would grab the clipboard out of our hands."
Nader ran as the Green Party nominee in 2000 and 2004 and was considered by many to be a spoiler, causing Republican George Bush to win. Marino said Nader is polling better nationally this time than the other two and believes he can win.
"It's a matter of putting someone in the White House who deserves to be there," he said.
Davis said Barr believes there is a chance to pick up votes in West Virginia because it is "being ignored by the two major candidates."
"He'll have a good turnout at the voting booth in November if he gets on the ballot," he said.
Barr and Nader have said some polls have shown them getting as much as 6 percent of the national vote. For a presidential contender to be included in the official presidential debates, they must be receiving support from 10 percent of the nation based on certain polling data.
Supporters of both said that is a lofty goal they hope to achieve and believe it would boost their candidates' chances to win immensely.
"Barr said he's in it to win it," Davis said. "He's not in it to be a spoiler."
Reach Tom Searls at tomsea...@wvgazette.com or 348-5198.
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Everyone really needs to abandon the current system and vote only for alternative candidates, and this needs to be organized nationwide. The United States is filled with the political equivalent of stale air, and a good airing-out is long overdue. If the Democrats and Republicans felt like they had to actually earn your votes, rather than being able to simply tell you what you want to hear up until Election Day and then count on you to choose between the two options they've spoon-fed to you, you'd be amazed at how quickly they'd clean up their act.
"hoisy42" has it right. The problem is this "My team vs. Your team" mindset. It's time to forget about what's good for the parties, and start thinking about what's good for America.