Franklin County Libertarians wishing to run in “partisan” races will need to file as Independent.
The county party pledges assistance and resources to qualify.
Partisan candidates with ballot access (not Libertarians, booo) are required to file by Wed, Dec 20th.
Independent candidates have until Mon, Mar 18th, 2024.
The petition signature requirements for party candidates are different for each race, but substantially lower than the requirements for independent candidates.
Example: State Representative for District 6
Partisan candidate signatures required: 50 (max 150)
Independent candidate signatures required:
273 (max 819)
Now, you might be wondering “Just how hard is it to collect 50 signatures?”
Short answer: hard
Long answer: Not just 50 signatures, 50 validated signatures.
The person signing the petition must be a registered voter in the district or area of your election. Not registered, not counted.
The person signing the petition must have voted in any election in the last 2 years. Not voted, not counted. (This is squishy.)
The signature on the petition must match the signature the county board of election has on record. No match, not counted.
On average experienced circulators can collect 50 to 100 signatures a day, with validity averaging 1 in 4.
It also depends on location and time of day. Going door-to-door produces better signatures and higher validatity. Standing in front of grocery stores or bustling shopping areas produces lower validity.
Thus means you can’t just get the bare minimum 50, you must collect more, and experience recommends 2x more.
Even longtime incumbent candidates collect plenty more than the minimum, and potential candidates are disqualified all the time for missing the minimum by as few as 1 signature. 
In 2018 the Libertarian Party of Ohio submitted 102k signatures to qualify for minor party status.
Roughly 64k were deemed “valid” by county boards of election.
Get that ball rolling now, the sooner we connect, the better our chances of getting you elected!
Run for local or state office: https://www.fclpo.org/run-for-local-office/
