Ballot Access

Background

Ballot access is the process by which political parties, candidates and initiatives show up on the ballot in an election. 

In Maryland it takes 10,000 valid petition signatures from registered voters  to start a new political party. Once a party is established voters can affiliate with it, and members of the party can run for office. 

In order to retain ballot access a party  must 

  1. secure  1% of the vote in the presidential or gubernatorial election.

  2. have greater than 1% of registered voters affiliated with the party. 

If neither of those criteria are met, the party has to go through the petition process again. Each petition campaign gets the party 2 election cycles 

Get Involved with the 2024 Maryland Green Party Ballot Access Campaign

The Maryland Green Party is currently in a petition drive to get on the ballot for 2024 and 2026.

This campaign is actively supporting this effort.  More information is available here:

Andy’s Ballot Access Advocacy and Organizing 

Andy is an active member of the Ballot Access committee of the Maryland Green Party and the Green Party of The United States. He regularly assists grassroots organizations seeking to place questions on the ballot and has collaborated with other small parties seeking ballot access in Maryland

In 2020 while Co-Chair of the Maryland Green Party Andy  worked with the State Board of Elections to develop regulations allowing the emergency use of electronic signatures. Later that year Andy was a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against the State of Maryland that was settled to ensure the Green and Libertarian parties were on the ballot in the 2020 election.

Andy has been a lead organizer in the Ballot Petition Modernization Act before the Maryland General Assembly and regularly testifies on ballot access issues. 

2026, 2028 and Beyond

This campaign is committed to win ballot access for the Maryland Green Party in 2028 by getting more than one percent of the vote in the 2026 gubernatorial election. This is a key element in the growth of the party . It is our hope that after the 2026 election cycle the party will not have to petition regularly because its candidates are regularly getting 1% in top of the ticket races.