Homeless in Arizona

For a Libertarian to run in the primary election of the Libertarian party (not the general election) the Libertarian needs to get almost 12 percent of the people that are registered as Libertarian voters to sign his petitions.

If Republicans and Democrats were forced to get this ridiculously high number of signatures they would be required to get 100,000+ signatures.

But Republicans and Democrats need to get slightly less then 6,000 signatures which is around one half of one percent of the registered voters in those parties. That compares to almost 12 percent the Libertarians are required to get.

The Republicans passed this law which makes it for all practical purpose impossible for Libertarians to run for office.

The "screw the Libertarian Party" law was passed because Libertarian Powell Gammil when he ran for the US House against Republican Vernon B. Parker and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema got about 16,000 votes, which mostly came from disgruntled Republicans and caused Democrat Kyrsten Sinema to win the election.

For useless information Powell Gammil died a few weeks ago.

Source

Arizona high court agrees: Libertarian off U.S. Senate ballot

POLITICAL INSIDER

Mary Jo Pitzl, The Republic | azcentral.com 6:16 p.m. MST July 1, 2016

There will be no Libertarian on the ballot for the U.S. Senate, the Arizona Supreme Court has decided.

What's unclear is how Frank Tamburri's complaint that he was harmed by a year-old law he considers unconstitutional that hiked the signature requirement for third-party candidates will play out. That might have to wait for an ongoing federal lawsuit.

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Robert Graham brought the challenge against Tamburri, arguing the Libertarian lacked the needed 3,034 valid signatures to get on the ballot. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge agreed.

So Tamburri, a naturopathic physician, took his case to the state Supreme Court, arguing he was discriminated against because lawmakers last year raised the number of required signatures to 3,034 from the existing 127.

"It is an extremely high burden given the number of registered Libertarians," he said.

Indeed, there are 25,340 registered Libertarians in Arizona, the Secretary of State's Office website shows. That compares with 1.2 million Republicans and 990,000 Democrats.

Lawmakers last year broadened the base on which petition signatures are calculated, while reducing the percentage required. The result was a drop for Republicans running for Senate, a slight increase for Democrats, but a massive increase for third-party candidates like Tamburri.

He disputed Republican complaints that he was running to pull votes away from expected GOP Senate nominee John McCain, who is seeking a sixth six-year term.

"I want to help (presumptive GOP presidential nominee) Donald Trump complete the task of breaking the back of the Republican Party," Tamburri said.

Make that "wanted to help." With Graham's successful challenge, the U.S. Senate race in November will be a two-person affair. Meanwhile, the Libertarians are in federal court disputing the constitutionality of last year's signature change. The outcome of that case could have ramifications for future elections, but not for 2016's.