Many people, even within the Libertarian Party, don't understand the issues surrounding the Libertarian Party of Kentucky and ballot access. This is a very important issue, so I thought I'd take a moment to explain it.

Kentucky has essentially 4 levels of ballot access.

Candidates seeking to run as an Independent Candidate running for partisan office must collect signatures numbering between 20 and 5,000, depending on the office sought, to have their name appear on the ballot.

Candidates from a Political Group running for partisan office must collect signatures numbering between 20 and 5,000, depending on the office sought, to have their name appear on the ballot. Candidates are nominated by convention, or after the convention, a candidate may be nominated by the executive committee of the Political Group.

Candidates from a Political Organization running for partisan office must collect two signatures, and be nominated at convention. The upgrade from Group to Organization will occur when that party's candidate for US President receives 2% or greater of the popular vote in the state of Kentucky.

Candidates from a Political Party running for partisan office must collect two signatures, and participate in a partisan primary. The upgrade from Organization to Party will occur when that party's candidate for US President receives 20% or greater of the popular vote in the state of Kentucky. The threshold used to be 5%, until Perot broke this threshold in 1992, and the General Assembly increased it to 20%.

Today, the Libertarian Party of Kentucky qualifies as a Political Group, as our 2008 candidate for president, Bob Barr, did not meet the 2% threshold to qualify the party as a Political Organization.

Ballot access is extremely important for the viability of a party. LP Indiana has had ballot access since 1994, and they have people elected to partisan offices within the state as Libertarians. LP Ohio recently obtained ballot access by suing in Federal Court to have obscene requirements removed under Equal Protection and a number of other Constitutional protections, and this year they have a slate of very legitimate candidates.

In order for the LPKY to become successful, we must obtain ballot access. There are several ways we are working to achieve ballot access. The first of these is to begin a voter registration drive of our members, starting on June 1st of this year. It is critical to this effort to get as many people as possible to register as a Libertarian by the end of the team.

Learning the lessons of LP Indiana and LP Ohio, ballot access means more legitimacy in the media. It also means better candidates stepping forward, who can focus on running for office instead of collecting signatures.

We must work to get ballot access as soon as possible. This is going to be one of my core focuses for the foreseeable future. We have codified a structure in our State Party Constitution as of February's convention. We must now take the next steps in becoming a viable political force in the state of Kentucky.

Want to help? Re-register to vote as a Libertarian, and be sure to keep a copy of your voter registration card -- certain County Clerks, and even the Secretary of State's office, are not always following proper procedure when registering voters as Libertarians in Kentucky.