Posts Tagged ‘What is the latest date Sarah Palin could announce presidential run?
ACTION ITEM: Compile all the ballot deadlines for appearing as a candidate in the 2012 Republican primaries and caucuses
UPDATE #2: We’re going to finish this list for all 50 states and will keep working on it until it’s done, but so far, based on what we’re seeing, it looks like October 31st, 2011 is the ABSOLUTE LATEST date that Governor Palin could announce a presidential run beacause of a November 1st, 2011 filing deadline in South Carolina, where she would need to compete. Realistically, she will announce before then if she intends to run…but she can’t go longer than Halloween if she wants to compete in South Carolina (where Governor Haley will no doubt campaign for her).
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UPDATE: Here is the information for Illinois. I obtained it by calling the Board of Elections in Springfield.
ILLINOIS
Circulation for Signatures begins September 6th, 2011
Signatures accepted: November 28th-December 5th
Republican primary: March 20th, 2012
So…this means Governor Palin could wait until mid-November to announce and still make the ballot here in Illinois.
I’m going to keep checking this thread to see if anyone can help compile this so I don’t have to call all 50 states, but think it’s important enough to build this table so I’ll invest the time to do it. Would love the help though!
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IOWA CAUCUS: No deadlines and no paperwork filed, no signatures collected. The Caucus is on February 6th, 2012. So governor Palin could declare candidacy on February 5th, 2012 and still be able to participate.
NEW HAMPSHIRE: No one at the GOP in New Hampshire or at the Board of Elections knew when the deadline was, but there are signatures required. Awaiting a call back from Secretary of State’s office to find out date
NEVADA CAUCUS: Caucus is held February 18th, 2012.
SOUTH CAROLINA: November 1st, 2011 is deadline for filing. No signatures required. Filing fee is $35,000 (which includes a $10,000 late fee because the early filing date was May 3rd, 2011).
Alabama: December 14th, 2011 filing deadline. 500 signatures required. Qualifying fee is $10,000. Primary is March 13th, 2012.
Alaska: Filing deadline is “early in January”, but exact date is not yet known. The Presidential Preference Poll is conducted on March 6th at the district conventions (a caucus, but the voting is done on ballots, not wandering into corners like Democrats do in the Iowa Caucus). 50 signatures are required to be on a ballot plus a $1,000 candidate fee that also includes a coupon for the candidate to attend a barbeque lunch of some kind.
Arizona: Nomination paperwork is due between December 28th-January 9th (5pm cutoff). Presidential Preference Election is scheduled for February 28th, 2012.
Arkansas: Filing deadline is February 23-March 1st, 2012. Filing fee is $25,000. No signatures required. Primary is May 22nd, 2012.
California: The Secretary of State automatically puts a candidate on the ballot if that person is on the ballot in other states, has a campaign office in California, and “is otherwise acting like a presidential candidate”. No paperwork filing is required as it’s at the discretion of the Secretary of State to include all known candidates on the ballot.
Colorado: Does not participate in presidential primary and just selects whomever is nominated from either party four days after the nominating convention.
Connecticut:
Delaware:
Florida:
Georgia:
Hawaii:
Idaho:
Illinois: Circulation of signatures begins September 6th, 2011; signatures accepted November 28-December 5th, 2011; primary is Marth 20th, 2012
Indiana: Filing deadline is between January 11-31, 2012.
Maryland: March 2012 filing deadline, primary is April 3rd 2012
Nevada: March 12, 2012 filing deadline, no signatures required
Pennsylvania: January 24-February 14th, 2012 filing deadline. 2000 signatures required. $200 filing fee
Wisconsin: Certification is November 15, 2011. Primary is February 21, 2012
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This is yeoman’s, difficult work, but I don’t think anyone has made a tabulation of this yet. If so, please link to it in comments below.
There’s a clear and pressing need to determine the cut-off date in each individual state for a candidate to put forward the signatures required to appear on ballots for the 2012 Republican nominating contests.
Each state has a different set of rules, and different deadlines.
In 2008, when I gathered signatures to get Hillary Clinton on the ballot here in Illinois, I believe our first week getting signatures was in early May, and we worked on the project through mid-June, when the campaign felt we had enough to pass muster. Remember: Obama disqualified Alice Palmer and other candidates in his 1996 run for his state senate seat by contesting the signatures they obtained to get on the ballot, and he was able to knock them all of so he could run opposed in that race. So, the Clinton campaign worked hard to get a large amount of signatures so even if Obama played the same game, Hillary would be on the Illinois primary ballots.
I think Governor Palin’s supporters could very easily obtain the required number of signatures to place her on the ballot in any state in just 2-3 weeks. It’s not very hard to do, really. In an hour or two, working in busy parts of town, just one volunteer could fill up maybe 10 sheets, with up to 30 or so names on a sheet. Multiply that across the spectrum of Palin supporters and I can’t imagine the Governor wouldn’t meet threshold very quickly.
If we can get an idea of when the filing deadlines are to be on the ballot for the Republican primary or caucus in that state, we can get a better picture of when’s the absolute latest we could hear official word of Governor Palin’s entry into the Republican race.
If, say, November-something is a deadline in one of the most important states she needs to be on the ballot in, then Governor Palin would need to announce at least three weeks before that date (maybe stretching it to two weeks prior), to ensure she’s on the ballot and not disqualified on technicality.
A gut feeling is that the Governor has until the third week of October or so to announce her presidential campaign. Maybe sooner, maybe later.
The first step in figuring that out is to create a table showing all the deadline dates.
Can you help start filling in states below?
It’s time-consuming and boring, yes, but important as it doesn’t look like anyone has thought to do this yet.
