Lesser-known candidates jump through hoops to get on primary ballots

Andrew Yang thought he turned in nearly three times the number of petition signatures needed to qualify for the ballot in Ohio’s presidential primary in March, but his name won’t be among the 11 Democratic candidates voters can choose from.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose said Mr. Yang’s campaign failed to specify exactly what Ohioans were signing when gathering the signatures. Now, if voters in the Buckeye State want to support the tech entrepreneur and upstart 2020 candidate, they’ll need to write in his name.

“As a non-politician, it’s unfathomable that this could happen, but we’re not going to let democracy be thwarted and we are thrilled that we’ve made every other ballot with ease,” Mr. Yang said after his name was left off the ballot this month.

Beyond galvanizing support in the early voting states, Mr. Yang and the other 2020 contenders are jumping through hoops to get their names on the actual ballots. It is a logistical feat that provides one of the truest tests of a campaign’s organizational strength.

“It’s not easy to get on the ballot,” said Paul Brace, a political science professor at Rice University in Texas. “Some of this is institutionally designed, but some of it just creates more obstacles for candidates who are trying to multitask among many, many different things and they don’t meet the burden.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who announced a White House bid in November, failed last month to qualify for Michigan’s primary ballot.

The Patrick campaign said it planned to deliver more than 13,000 signatures to the Michigan secretary of state. But the Bureau of Elections found that fewer than 9,000 were valid — short of the 11,345 needed to qualify.

When a “front-runner” or establishment-type candidate doesn’t “check the box or cross the T” on ballot qualification criteria, courts have had a habit of declaring “no harm, no foul,” said Nicholas Sarwark, chairman of the Libertarian National Committee.

“Frankly, more insurgent candidates would be smart to hire libertarians with experience, since we deal with this stuff all the time. We’ve already been tricked by some of this,” Mr. Sarwark said.

Though the Iowa caucuses are still a few weeks away, early voting in Minnesota starts Jan. 17, making it crucial for campaigns to get their ducks in a row now.

Ohio and Washington finalized the candidates appearing on their primary ballots this month, and a number of deadlines elsewhere are fast approaching.

Democrats Abroad recently announced that 12 Democratic presidential candidates had qualified to take part in its “global presidential primary” from March 3-10 for U.S. citizens who live overseas.

While the Democratic contenders are fighting to get their names on ballots in various states, some state Republican parties have moved to cancel or curtail their nominating processes to clear the way for President Trump.

Republicans in Wisconsin recently decided to put only Mr. Trump’s name in for the April 7 primary ballot.

Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Andrew Hitt told reporters that Mr. Trump’s top primary challengers, former GOP Rep. Joe Walsh and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, have failed to get on primary ballots in several other states, making them “less relevant” in Wisconsin, according to The Associated Press.

He pointed out that they can still get on the ballot if they submit 8,000 nomination signatures by the end of the month.

But Mr. Trump’s long-shot primary opponents have blasted the moves, saying the president is running scared and is trying to strong-arm state parties into quashing any intraparty dissent.

“This is f——ing unprecedented. This should be a huge story,” Mr. Walsh said. “We’ve never, ever had this before in America where you literally have a sitting president colluding with state parties to cancel elections.”

Mr. Weld said party bosses in Wisconsin just told millions of voters they don’t deserve a choice in the Republican primary.

“That’s not how a democracy works, and certainly not the way the party of competition and freedom should work,” said Mr. Weld, who was also the Libertarian Party’s 2016 vice presidential nominee.

The Trump campaign said in cases where state parties are responsible for funding their own primaries or caucuses, the savings can be used to benefit down-ballot Republicans.

“The campaign took no position as state parties were weighing opting out of their primary contests,” said Trump campaign spokeswoman Sarah Matthews. “Regardless, the president will dominate whoever has the wrong-headed idea to challenge him in whatever contest is put in front of him.”

Proponents of the moves point to past presidential election cycles when both Democrats and Republicans pushed to cancel or limit primaries when they had an incumbent up for reelection.

In 2003, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed GOP-authored legislation that would have canceled the state’s 2004 primary during President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign, saying that Arizona “can well afford the price of democracy.”

Mr. Trump is all but certain to emerge as the Republican nominee, but Mr. Sarwark said it is still worth keeping an eye on the results out of New Hampshire, where unaffiliated voters are free to cast ballots in either party’s primary.

“There’s a pitch that you’re getting from Walsh and Weld right now that if you really have a problem with where the country is going under this president, you have the opportunity to vote against him twice,” he said. “Maybe technically he can’t not get the nomination at some point, but to what end, right? You know, he ends up being Bob Dole.”