Some major party presidential candidates may not get on the ballot in all 50 states

(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

published 27 November 2015

Simply announcing a presidential candidacy, or even appearing in primetime presidential debates, offers no assurance that your name will appear on ballots come election day. All 50 states have their own ballot access laws, many of which are onerous even for major party candidates.

For the 2016 elections, presidential campaigns will spend $1 to $2 million each to get on the ballot nationwide. Then there's the man-hours required: While some states — like South Carolina, with its $40,000 fee — want money for ballot access, others — like Virginia, which necessitates 10,000 petition signatures allotted across congressional districts — require significant time investment from campaign staff and volunteers. (Virginia's rules kept all Republicans but Mitt Romney and Ron Paul off the ballot in 2012.)

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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