Party chairs to name presidential candidates

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 08:42:16 -0500

The chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties will choose which presidential candidates appear on the primary ballot in May.

Under a change in state law approved last session, Democratic chairman Jerry Meek and Republican chairwoman Linda Daves will tell the State Board of Elections by Feb. 5 which candidates they want to be on the ballot.

Previously, the board recognized all candidates of major political parties who qualified to receive federal campaign financing. But executive director Gary Bartlett said that was no longer a viable option.

"What started happening in the last presidential election is that candidates are forgoing the public funding, so there needed to be a change," he said.

A candidate could still petition to get on the ballot. Under state law, candidates may submit the signatures of 10,000 registered voters from their party to the state board, but they will first need to get the names verified by the county boards where those voters reside.

The petition would be due March 3, roughly a month after the party chairs submit their lists.

Still, Bartlett said that could be a tight timeline for some candidates.

"For a sophisticated campaign, you would usually need about three to five weeks to do something like that," he said.

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Party chairs to name presidential candidates