Illinois only has three choices for POTUS?!

Published: Oct. 18, 2024 at 6:10 PM CDT

(WIFR) - For the first time since the 1970s, members of the Libertarian or Green parties will not appear on the presidential ballot.

The Libertarian Party was founded in 1971 and debuted in the race for the White House the following year. In the mid-1980s, the Green Party also emerged and was listed on the ticket for years to come.

Now in 2024, both parties are disqualified due to a lack of support. But that’s not stopping them from asking voters to write in their nominees.

Bill Redpath, the Illinois Libertarian Party chair blames Illinois' ballot access laws for keeping candidate Chase Oliver and his running mate Mike ter Maat from the ticket. Oliver needed to gain 25,000 signatures in a 90-day window, something Redpath says is difficult, especially when the national party won’t provide funding.

The Green Party encourages voters to write in Jill Stein and her running-mate Butch Ware. They also failed to gain the 25,000 signatures needed to appear on the ticket.

“Difficult, bordering on impossible, to do 25,000 valid signatures with just volunteers. So that’s really the reason why the Libertarian presidential ticket is not on the ballot this year in Illinois,” Redpath says.

Rockford University professor Bob Evans says third parties were expected to grow because of recent trends of people breaking away from the leading parties. But in a total pattern reversal, he says this high-stake election is encouraging many Americans to stick to the red and blue parties.

“Third parties are either dropping off the ballot or at least showing weakening signs,” Evans says. “It’s noteworthy in that it’s a reversal of a trend that had been going on for quite some time.”

In some close elections, Evans explains that third party candidates can tip the scales one way or another. He says this is something Republicans and Democrats try to avoid.

“They want it to be head-to-head Trump to Harris so the candidates for the two parties and their parties are actively discouraging third parties,” Evans says.

The Libertarian Party says they intend to return to the statewide ballot in the near future.

www.wifr.com/2024/10/18/third-parties-left-off-illinois-ballot-due-lack-signatures/