Ballot access requirements for political parties in Missouri

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Although there are hundreds of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • As of May 2024, there were three officially recognized political parties in Missouri: Democratic, Libertarian, and Republican parties.
  • In some states, a candidate may choose to have a label other than that of an officially recognized party appear alongside his or her name on the ballot. Such labels are called political party designations. Missouri does not allow candidates to use political party designations.

    • To learn more about ballot access requirements for political candidates in Missouri, see this article.

    DocumentIcon.jpg See state election laws

    Process for a political party to obtain ballot status

    Seal of Missouri

    DocumentIcon.jpg See statutes: Missouri Revised Statutes, Section 115.315

    Any group of individuals desiring to form a new political party, either throughout the state or for any congressional or state legislative district, must petition the secretary of state for recognition. Each page of such a petition must clearly state the intention to form a new political party and must indicate in no more than five words the name of the proposed party. Petitioners must also provide a complete list of the names and addresses of the chairman and treasurer of the party. The chairman and treasurer must also submit a certified list of the names and addresses of all the party's candidates and the office being sought by each.[1][2]

    If the party is being formed for the entire state, the petition must be signed by at least 10,000 registered voters. If the new party is being formed for a district, the petition must be signed by a number of registered voters in the district equal to at least 2 percent of the total number of voters who voted at the last election for candidates for the office being sought, or 10,000 registered voters, whichever is less.[1]

    New party formation petitions must be submitted no earlier than 8:00 a.m. on the day immediately following the general election next preceding the general election for which the petition is submitted and no later than 5:00 p.m. on the 15th Monday preceding the general election for which the petition is submitted. For example, for the 2014 election, petitions could not be submitted prior to November 7, 2012, and could not be accepted after July 28, 2014.[3]

    Nominating candidates

    Upon filing a party formation petition, party officers must submit a list of the party's candidates and declarations of candidacy for each. The party is entitled to nominate its candidates in the manner prescribed in the party's bylaws. Thereafter, nominations must be made via primary.[2][4]

    Procedural requirements

    A party committee can adopt a constitution or bylaws or both, provided such constitution or bylaws do not contain provisions that conflict with state laws. Changes to party rules can require no more than a two-thirds majority vote of the total membership of a committee.[5]

    Maintaining party status

    In order to maintain recognized status, a state-level party must have polled for its candidate for any statewide office more than 2 percent of the total number of votes cast for that office at either of the last two general elections.[6][7]

    A district-level party must have polled more than 2 percent of the entire vote cast at either of the last two general elections in which the district voted as a unit for the election of officers or representatives.[7]

    Political parties

    See also: List of political parties in the United States

    As of May 2024, there were three recognized political parties in Missouri. These are listed in the table below.[8]

    Party Website link By-laws/platform link
    Democratic Party of Missouri Link Party platform
    Libertarian Party of Missouri Link Party platform
    Republican Party of Missouri Link Party platform

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    See also

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Missouri Revised Statutes, "Section 115.315," accessed March 6, 2014
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Missouri Revised Statutes, "Section 115.327," accessed March 6, 2014
    3. ↑ Missouri Revised Statutes, "Section 115.329," accessed March 6, 2014
    4. ↑ Missouri Revised Statutes, "Section 115.339," accessed March 6, 2014
    5. ↑ Missouri Revised Statutes, "Section 115.627," accessed March 6, 2014
    6. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named mo2012results
    7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Missouri Revised Statutes, "Section 115.013," accessed March 6, 2014
    8. ↑ Missouri Secretary of State, "Established Political Parties," accessed May 15, 2024
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