This article contains lists of official and potential third party and independent candidates associated with the 2016 United States presidential election.
Contents
- Gary Johnson Libertarian Party
- Poll Standings
- Party nomination contest
- Jill Stein Green Party
- Poll standings
- Evan McMullin Better for America Group and others
- Darrell Castle Constitution Party
- Nomination contest
- Gloria La Riva multiple parties
- Party for Socialism and Liberation
- Liberty Union Party Vermont
- Peace and Freedom Party
- Rocky De La Fuente American Delta and Reform Parties plus others
- American Delta party nomination
- Reform party nomination
- Richard Duncan Independent
- Bernie Sanders
- Dan Vacek Legal Marijuana Now Party
- Chris Keniston Veterans Party of America
- Mike Maturen American Solidarity Party
- James Hedges Prohibition Party
- Tom Hoefling Americas Party
- Monica Moorehead Workers World Party
- Peter Skewes American Party South Carolina
- Rocky Giordani Independent American Party
- Emidio Mimi Soltysik Socialist Party USA
- Rod Silva Nutrition Party
- Jerry White Socialist Equality Party
- American Independent and other Fusion tickets
- Conservative party nomination in New York
- Working Families party nomination in New York
- Womans Equality party nomination in New York
- American Independent Party nomination in California
- No ballot access
- Write in Candidates
- Non notable candidates
- Previously speculated
- Withdrew
- Declined
- References
"Third party" is a term commonly used in the United States in reference to political parties other than the two major parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. An independent candidate is one who runs for office with no formal party affiliation.
Ballot access in states holding 270 or more electoral votes represents a majority of the 538 electoral votes in the Electoral College. The number of electoral votes for which a party or independent candidate has secured ballot access may increase as those parties or candidates complete their petitions, and filings for ballot access, until September 2016 when the last petition deadlines occur.
According to the Authoritative Green Papers website, 31 people are on the ballot in at least one state, while 192, including those who are on ballots in some states, have obtained recognition as official "write-in" candidates who will have their votes counted.
Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party
Ballot access: The Libertarian ticket was on all 51 ballots.
Nationally, Johnson captured 5 percent or more of the vote in eight states: New Mexico, North Dakota, Alaska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Maine.
Poll Standings
All major polling outfits have included Johnson in their published results. His highest total was 13% in a CNN/ORC poll taken in July. Since then he has generally been in the upper single digits, breaking 10% as recently as October 10 in a Politico/Morning Consult poll.
His greatest statewide percentage was in his home state of New Mexico, where he reached the mid-twenties in September, and has since fallen back into the teens. He has been in the teens in several other state polls, most recently in a WBUR/MassINC poll taken in New Hampshire on November 1.
Party nomination contest
There were six primaries, Gary Johnson received 22,642 votes while none of the others received as much as 4 thousand.
Jill Stein, Green Party
Ballot access (Write-in included): 47 states + DC
Poll standings
All major polling outfits have included Stein in their published results. Her highest total was 6% in McClatchy/Marist poll taken early August. Since then her highest total was 4% in a CBS/New York Times poll taken in late October. She generally stands at 2 or 3%.
In statewide polling she has gotten as high as 7% in an Emmerson college poll from Vermont in September.
Party nomination contest
Five additional candidates sought the Green Party nomination.
Evan McMullin, Better for America Group and others
The anti-Donald Trump Better for America PAC recruited Even McMullin as a candidate for president. He is on the ballot in 11 states and has write-in access for many more.
Darrell Castle, Constitution Party
Electoral votes: 207 (Scott Copeland has access to 4 electoral votes in Idaho, where Castle is on the ballot as an independent)
Write-in included: 406
Ballot access: Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Write-in access: Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia.
Poll standings
Castle has not been featured in any national polls. However he was listed in a few in Utah in August and September, where he got as much as 2%, and in Nevada, where he got 1%.
Nomination contest
The 2016 Presidential Nominating Convention was held in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 13–16.
Gloria La Riva, multiple parties
Electoral votes: 80 (Gloria LaRiva has a combined 135 electoral votes via the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Peace and Freedom Party, and the Liberty Union Party)
Ballot access: California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, Vermont, Washington
Party for Socialism and Liberation
La Riva is on the ballot in numerous states under this banner and as an independent.
Liberty Union Party (Vermont)
La Riva won the primary in Vermont and thus was awarded the ballot line there.
La Riva participated in the Free and Equal presidential debate.
Peace and Freedom Party
La Riva won the primary in California and thus was awarded the ballot line at the state convention. Jill Stein, who was on the Green party primary ballot was removed from the PF one.
Rocky De La Fuente, American Delta and Reform Parties, plus others
Electoral votes: 147 (De La Fuente has access to a combined 147 electoral votes as an Independent, via The American Delta Party and via The Reform Party)
Write-In included: 346 Electors
Anticipated Write-In Included: 404 Electors
Ballot access:
Under the ballot label "Reform Party" Florida
Under the ballot label "American Delta Party": Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico.
As an independent: Alaska, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
Write-In: Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Virginia, Kansas, West Virginia, Washington. Total 199 Electors
Anticipated Write-In: Connecticut, Missouri, South Dakota
Pending Lawsuit: California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Hawaii, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas.
No Ballot Access 2016 : Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, South Carolina.
Poll Standings
In August and September, Suffolk University did polling listing De la Fuente in Nevada. He got only 1%.
American Delta party nomination
The American Delta Party is an organization specifically created to support De La Fuente's independent candidacy.
Reform party nomination
The Reform Party recognized the following other candidates as seeking its presidential nomination The vote totals nominating De La Fuente were never released.
Richard Duncan, Independent
Poll standings: Was listed in several Ohio polls.
Bernie Sanders
Several grassroots campaigns to elect Bernie Sanders President as a write-in candidate were established on social media in the run-up to the United States presidential election. Though Sanders continued to campaign for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, supporters pointed to alleged DNC bias in the Democratic Party's presidential primaries against Sanders, and Clinton's email scandal, and continued to support him. Both Clinton and Donald Trump would have had to win less than the required 270 electoral college votes for Sanders to have denied either candidate the presidency, and for the election to be passed to the House of Representatives - thus the initial write-in campaign around Vermont, offering only 3 college votes, was unsuccessful. The campaign expanded to include all 12 eligible states (one of which listed Sanders as an official write-in candidate), and relied on states such as California, with a high electoral college vote count and large support for Sanders, to be successful in denying both Trump and Clinton. He has received over 100 thousand popular votes and one electoral vote. Two other electoral votes were disallowed.
What is notable here is that he came in third in Vermont, coming ahead of both Gary Johnson and Jill Stein and taking 5.67% of the vote (18,183 tallied), something that has never happened before in a fall Presidential election.
Dan Vacek, Legal Marijuana Now Party
'Ballot access: Iowa, Minnesota
Chris Keniston, Veterans Party of America
Electoral votes: 15
Ballot access: Colorado, Mississippi
Mike Maturen, American Solidarity Party
Electoral votes: 9
Write-In included: 332
Ballot access: Colorado
Write-In: Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin
James Hedges, Prohibition Party
Electoral votes: 21
Ballot access: Arkansas, Colorado, Mississippi
Poll standings: In order to see if support for Jill Stein and Gary Johnson was genuine, Falrleigh Dickinson University conducted a poll substituting Hedges and Monica Moorhead of the Workers'World Party, for Johnson and Stein. Hedges received 4%.
Tom Hoefling, America's Party
Electoral votes: 44
Ballot access: Arkansas, Colorado, Florida
Monica Moorehead, Workers World Party
Electoral votes: 30
Ballot access: New Jersey, Utah, Wisconsin
(Texas)
Poll standings: In order to see if support for Jill Stein and Gary Johnson was genuine, Falrleigh Dickinson University conducted a poll substituting Moorhead and Jim Hedges of the Prohibition Party, for Johnson and Stein. Ms. Moorehead received 3%, the same amount Stein did.
Peter Skewes, American Party (South Carolina)
Electoral votes: 9
Ballot access: South Carolina
Rocky Giordani, Independent American Party
Electoral votes: 18
Ballot access: New Mexico, Oregon, Utah
Emidio "Mimi" Soltysik, Socialist Party USA
Electoral votes: 25
Ballot access: Colorado, Michigan
He also received 1,086 votes in Guam's presidential "beauty contest."
Rod Silva, Nutrition Party
Electoral votes: 9
Ballot access: Colorado
Jerry White, Socialist Equality Party
Electoral votes: 8
Ballot access: Louisiana
American Independent and other Fusion tickets
Several states, most notably New York, permit fusion tickets. A fusion ticket is when a candidate or candidates are permitted more than one ballot line by being nominated by one or more third parties and permitting the votes on all lines to be added together for a single state total.
The Clinton/Kaine ticket is on the ballot in New York on the Women's Equality and Working Families Party lines, while the Trump/Pence ticket is on the Conservative party there as well as the American Independent Party in California.
Conservative party nomination in New York
The state committee nominated Donald Trump by voice vote.
Total popular vote:271,961 (3.79%)
Working Families party nomination in New York
Initially, the Working Families Party had endorsed Bernie Sanders for president, but when he conceded defeat at the Democratic convention and endorsed Hillary Clinton, the party had a mail in primary where Clinton defeated Jill Stein and "no endorsement" with 68% of the vote, preferring fusion rather than "asking voters to cast a vote that is at best meaningless and at worst destructive of progressive possibility."
Total popular vote:130,245 (1.82%)
Woman's Equality party nomination in New York
A faction of the party's executive committee nominated Dr. Lynn Sandra Kahn, while another nominated Hillary Clinton. The New York State board of elections decided the former Secretary of State would get the ballot line.
Total popular vote:32,307 (0.45%)
American Independent Party nomination in California
The state committee ignored the primary and designated Trump as its nominee.
California did not record a separate ballot total for the AIP.
Party nomination contest
Below are the results of the California Primary ballot, which was rendered supurfluous when the state committee decided to select Donald Trump.
No ballot access
According to the Federal Election Commission almost 2,000 People, both real and fictional, have been registered as presidential candidates.
Among the more notable ones are:
Write-in Candidates
A minimum of 1,022,439 (0.75%) voters cast write in ballots, what is believed to be a record. Many were for registered candidates who were on the ballot in one or more states, others for candidates who were registered but were on no ballots and others were for fictional or perceptibly humorous figures, like of Mickey Mouse or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The vast majority of these will never be counted or recorded as individuals but as "Others" or "Scattered." Many states disallow write-up candidacy
Non notable candidates
The following candidates had no on-ballot access but were official write-in candidates in at least one state.
Alabama, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont are not listed below as those states do not require filing as a write-in candidate.
Previously speculated
The following individuals have been the focus of presidential speculation as an independent candidate in multiple media reports during the 2016 election cycle, but such speculation has ostensibly ceased for a period of three months or longer.
Withdrew
Declined
Individuals listed in this section have been the focus of media speculation as being possible 2016 presidential candidates but have unequivocally ruled out an independent presidential bid in 2016.