Ballot access requirements for political parties in Arizona

Ballot access for major and minor party candidates
Ballot access for presidential candidates
List of political parties in the United States
Methods for signing candidate nominating petitions
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Note: This article is not intended to serve as an exhaustive guide to running for public office. Individuals should contact their state election agencies for further information.

Although there are hundreds of political parties in the United States, only certain parties qualify to have the names of their candidates for office printed on election ballots. In order to qualify for ballot placement, a party must meet certain requirements that vary from state to state. For example, in some states, a party may have to file a petition in order to qualify for ballot placement. In other states, a party must organize around a candidate for a specific office; that candidate must, in turn, win a percentage of the vote in order for the party to be granted ballot status. In still other states, an aspiring political party must register a certain number of voters.

HIGHLIGHTS

As of March 2023, Arizona officially recognized four political parties: the Democratic, Libertarian, No Labels, and Republican parties.

In some states, a candidate may choose to have a label other than that of an officially recognized party appear alongside his or her name on the ballot. Such labels are called political party designations. Arizona allows candidates to use political party designations.

To learn more about ballot access requirements for political candidates in Arizona, see this article.

See state election laws

Process for a political party to obtain ballot status

Seal of Arizona

See statutes: Title 16, Chapter 5 of the Arizona Revised Statutes

Qualifying for ballot access

To establish a recognized political party in Arizona, the group wishing to qualify as a party must file a petition with the Arizona Secretary of State. This petition must contain signatures from registered voters equal to at least 1.33 percent of the total votes cast for governor at the last general election.

In order to gain statewide recognition, signatures must come from at least five counties. In addition, at least 10 percent of the total number of signatures must come from registered voters in counties with populations of less than 500,000 people.

This petition must be filed 180 days before the primary election. If the secretary of state determines that the party has submitted enough valid signatures, the party will be recognized. Once recognized, the party will be represented by its own ballot in the next regularly scheduled primary election and accorded its own column on the general election ballot.<

Maintaining ballot access

Once recognized, a new political party will be qualified through the next two regularly scheduled general elections. After those two elections, the party will no longer be recognized unless it qualifies for continued recognition or files a new petition for recognition. To qualify for continued recognition, the party's candidate for governor must receive at least 5 percent of the votes cast in the gubernatorial election. Alternatively, 0.66 percent of all registered voters in the state must have affiliated with the party by October 1 in the year preceding the general election.

Convention requirements

The state committee of a political party must meet no later than the fourth Saturday in January following a general election. At this meeting, a chairman, secretary, and treasurer must be elected from the party's membership. The current chairman of the state committee must notify all state committee members of the time and place of the meeting at least 10 days before the meeting will be held.

Political parties

See also: List of political parties in the United States

As of March 2023, Arizona officially recognized four political parties. These are listed in the table below.

Party	Website link	By-laws/platform link
Democratic Party of Arizona	Link	Party platform
Libertarian Party of Arizona	Link	Party platform
No Labels Party	Link	Party platform
Republican Party of Arizona	Link	Party by-laws

Historical events

2023

On March 7, 2023, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) published a press release announcing that the No Labels party had submitted the signatures required for ballot qualification.

2014

On May 16, 2014, federal judge Neil Wake upheld the state's petition deadline for newly-qualifying political parties. In his opinion in Arizona Green Party v. Bennett, Wake held that the deadline as established was necessary in order to allow the state sufficient time to prepare for the qualifying party's primary election.

Some opponents pointed to the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Anderson v. Celebrezze, which held that Ohio's early filing deadline for independent presidential candidates violated the voting and associational rights of the candidates' supporters.

2013

In June 2013, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2305 into law. The law, among other changes, increased petition signature requirements for minor party candidates. Opponents successfully referred the bill to voters in a veto referendum for the November 4, 2014, general election ballot. In January 2014, the Arizona House Judiciary Committee approved a bill to repeal the law. On February 10, 2014, this new bill passed the Arizona House Rules Committee, and the Arizona State Senate Judiciary Committee approved an identical bill. The Arizona House of Representatives passed the bill on February 13, 2014, and the Arizona State Senate passed it on February 20, 2014. It was signed into law by Brewer on February 27, 2014, officially repealing HB 2305.

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See also

• Ballot access requirements for political candidates in Arizona
• Ballot access requirements for presidential candidates in Arizona
• List of political parties in the United States
• Democratic Party of Arizona
• Republican Party of Arizona

External links

• Arizona Democratic Party
• Arizona Republican Party