POLS 125 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Ballot Access, Campaign Finance

• School: University of Vermont
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 125
• Professor: Deborah Lynn Guber

Document Summary

Barriers to entry for 3rd parties: ballot access restricts access to voters (more signatures required in big states, less in small ones) Must have evidence of constitutional eligibility to be president. Must have ballot access sufficient to theoretically win the electoral college (at least. Must have at least 15% from specified national polling organizations. Siphoning off enough votes from your second choice candidate can lead to your last choice candidate winning. It is clear that ralph nader was a spoiler in the 2000 election, particularly in florida: however, in the 2016 election, it is a weak argument that jill stein and gary johnson spoiled the election. A massive percentage of third party voters in multiple states would have needed to go to clinton for her to win the electoral college. For third parties to succeed, the rules of the game have to fundamentally change.